


So Shall it Be

by Denise



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-03
Updated: 2012-07-03
Packaged: 2017-11-09 02:02:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/450027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Denise/pseuds/Denise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They fixed the future….right?????</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Shall it Be

Title-  So Shall it Be

Author- Denise

Category- Adv., Romance

Season- 8, and 3000 BC

Spoilers – Moebius 1 & 2, Space Race, Abyss, Cold Lazarus, It's Good to be the King, Window of Opportunity

Content Level – OLDER KIDS/TEENS      

Content Warning- Little violence, some icky images, nothing horribly graphic

Summary- They fixed the future….right?????

Disclaimer: Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Sci-fi and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.

Big honkin thanks to Sio for the fantastic beta.

So Shall it Be

By

Denise

 

 

 

 

 

Warm healing light surrounded him as awareness returned. He let it wash over him, feeling it fill his body, reviving it cell by cell. Blood began to flow, softening and warming as the light worked its magic, returning feeling and sensation to every appendage.

 

Reflexively, he wiggled his toes and fingers, feeling his lips twist into a grin as he heard his fingernails tap lightly against a solid surface. He took a deep breath. It caught in his throat as that motion caused him pain. Then the pain faded, weakening and dissipating under the light.

 

The light. That was all that was good in his existence. The magical, wonderful healing light. It filled him with warmth, strength, power. It eased his worries and concerns and replaced them with satisfaction and pleasure. The light was good. He loved the light.

 

A dull, scraping sound penetrated his mind and he opened his eyes, staring as the light faded, replaced by a different kind. One that was colder, harsher, more distant.

 

Bulky arms reached down at him, pulling him forcefully from the warm light. The arms held him up, making him stand upon weak legs. "He lives, my lord," one of the voices said, ushering him forward.

 

"So I see," a voice drawled, its imperious tone oddly resonating.

 

Recognizing the voice, he forced his eyes open, shaking off the restraining hands and sinking to his knees, his head bowed submissively. "My lord," he gasped, the memory of his failure clawing at the back of his brain.

 

"You failed me," the gold clad figure said, gaining his feet. He pushed his robe behind him and slowly stepped off the dais. "Tell me why I should not kill you."

 

The figure walked slowly around him, his pace measured and precise. Heh raised his head, daring to stare his master in the eyes. "If you wished me dead, why did you place me in the sarcophagus?" he asked pointedly, his confidence bolstered by the very fact of his survival.

 

"Perhaps I wished to grant myself the pleasure of torturing you to death," Apophis said, retaking his seat upon the throne. "Such is the punishment for failure."

 

"Perhaps it is because you realize that I am worth far more to you alive than dead," Heh retorted, getting to his feet. He stepped forward, his head held high and his gaze riveted upon his 'god'. "When you attack the Tau'ri, you will require my host's knowledge to make full use of what you find," he said. "Earth has secrets, fantastical, magical secrets. Secrets you shall only attain with my help."

 

"And the price of this help?" Apophis asked.

 

"Only my pleasure to serve you," Heh said, his voice calculatingly smooth and submissive. In a way, he meant what he said, he would willingly serve Apophis. He would be his loyal and submissive servant. Until the time was right. And then he would murder the foolish creature in his sleep. That was one lesson he'd learned from his host, that while survival may necessitate  the building of relationships, one's true loyalty was only to oneself and alliances were nothing more than necessary, but temporary, annoyances.

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

The tent flap opened and Samantha Carter rolled over, groaning softly as she brought her arm up to shade her eyes. She heard someone pad into the tent, the carpet that laid over the sand turning his steps into barely audible sounds.

 

The ropes holding up the handmade mattress creaked as he sat on the bed and she heard him sigh as he stretched out.  After a couple of minutes, she opened her eyes, turning her head to look at him.

 

Even after a couple of months he was still not quite getting into the native clothing, his one concession to fitting in wearing one of the robes over his khakis. Of course, there were aspects of fitting in that she couldn't quite grasp either. The robes were ok, and surprisingly cool, and Daniel had found someone to make her a wonderful pair of sandals out of the softest leather she'd ever seen. But she still longed for the basics. A shower, toothpaste, a diet Coke.

 

"What's it like out there?" she asked. They'd just relocated to this camp a few days before, moving from the one closer to Ra's temple to this one, a few miles away. It was more primitive than the one they'd first stayed in, further away from the water hole and a generally rougher place. But those were traits that they hoped would help to disguise them. There were fewer people here, but it also meant that they knew more of them. And people they knew were less likely to turn them in than total strangers.

 

He sighed. "Exactly what it's been like every morning for the past eight weeks," he said, staring at the roof of the tent.

 

"Oh, right." She sat up, chewing her lip. She wondered if he regretted staying in the past. He had agreed with her but, well he seemed grumpy. "Maybe I'll go and aah—"

 

"Don't," he interrupted. "There's Jaffa out there."

 

Despite their hopes, their liberation of the gate ship hadn't sparked the rebellion. If anything, the situation had gotten worse with Ra tightening his control over his slaves, doing his best to root out the rebels.

 

They'd managed to evade capture, more than once taking refuge in one of Daniel Jackson's many hiding places, sometimes spending days on end underground. Jack, Teal'c and Daniel were lucky in a way. Daniel had lived here for several years and he totally understood the language and knew everyone. Teal'c, well all someone needed to do was take one look at his set face and big muscles and they left him alone. Jack was able to just sorta slip under everyone's radar and she…well she definitely felt like the weak link.

 

Even her appearance endangered them. It hadn't taken her long to find out that her inherited Norwegian coloring just wasn't suited for a desert. She'd taken to staying inside as much as she could and covering her skin as much as possible when she did venture out. It also helped to cover her hair, one other feature that set her apart from the locals.

 

"I thought Daniel said they'd stopped looking for us," she said, glancing apprehensively towards the tent flap.

 

"They're not gonna stop until they find us," Jack said.

 

"Maybe we should—"

 

"It's just a normal patrol," he said, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the cot. "They'll be gone in a few minutes," he reassured her.

 

"Are you sure? I mean I—"

 

"Hey." He got up and walked across the short distance between their two beds. He sat down beside her. "If I didn't think they'd leave, we'd be down in the shelter thing."

 

"I know, I just, I…" Her hands fluttered in her lap.

 

"What?" he asked when she trailed off.

 

"Maybe staying here wasn't such a good idea," she said, voicing what had been bothering her for weeks.

 

"What else are we going to do?" he asked. "We can't go back to the future without risking messing it up, we sure as hell aren't going to go any further in the past."

 

She nodded, accepting his words. "I do think that we sorta need to make sure the right things happen."

 

"Which is?"

 

"What Daniel says needs to happen, the revolution. We've got to make sure that Ra goes away and leaves the Stargate behind."

 

"And how are we going to do that?"

 

She shrugged, looking over at him. "You're the colonel, I thought you had an idea."

 

He frowned. "If I have to come up with the ideas, why the hell did I bring you along?"

 

"Because I was cuter than Daniel," she said, leaning against him.

 

He chuckled, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "Lots cuter," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Has he gotten any better?" he asked.

 

Sam slowly shook her head. "I don't think it's me, I think it's the other Sam Carter he's mad at. I think he wanted to go home and when she wouldn't let him it made him hate her," she said, feeling a bit of discomfort at expressing her feelings. She felt a little silly, almost like she was tattling to the teacher, and a few months ago, she probably wouldn't have said anything. But being with Jack had changed that. He actually listened to her, paid attention to what she said and what she did. His confidence in her gave her confidence in herself.

 

And that confidence made dealing with Doctor Jackson a little bit easier even though his barely concealed hostility was still hard to live with.

 

At first, he'd been ok. Yes, things had been a little awkward – they weren't the same people he'd known – but he had come through in rescuing her and Jack from the gate ship. And his contacts were incredibly valuable in both hiding them and building the rebellion.

 

But after a few days, Sam had started to notice a distinct chill in his behavior, especially directed towards her.

 

He was often impatient and seemed to find their lack of knowledge and information very frustrating. He and Teal'c got along a bit better. She didn't know if it was because they were friends in Daniel's original time line or if maybe he just liked the fact that Teal'c could also speak the language.

 

Of course, Jack was also rather impatient with Daniel and wasn't shy about expressing his feelings. The two of them would talk and bicker, Jack usually getting fed up with Daniel's super fast chatter and Daniel upset when Jack wouldn't listen to his theories and ideas.

 

Chalk and cheese, her mom used to say. And she was caught in the middle, Daniel's attitude towards her definitely pushing her towards wondering what she'd ever seen in the other version.

 

"I don’t know if he hates her," Jack said. "I think he just left a lot of stuff behind and regrets it."

 

"Did you?" she asked, broaching a topic she'd been avoiding for a while.

 

"Did I what?"

 

"Leave something important behind? Someone?" She fished for information. She and Daniel – her Daniel – had done some research before they'd flown out to talk to him. She knew that he'd retired from the Air Force years ago, or actually been encouraged to retire, his years of service getting him an honorable discharge instead of a forced retirement on the grounds of medical/mental unfitness.

 

She knew that he was divorced and made his living off his pension and whatever fishing charters he could round up. To everyone they'd talked to, he was a bit of a loner, not a bad guy, but also not one who would put himself out for anyone. He kept to himself, seemingly content to eek out his meager living with his boat.

 

About the only emotional attachment anyone could come up with was his knack for showing up at Kellerman's bar every Sunday night to watch the Simpson's and order a T-bone with the works and a couple of beers.

 

"Did you?" he asked, not answering her question.

 

Sam shook her head. "My mom and dad were killed in a car wreck when I was little," she said, shrugging slightly. "They put me and my brother into social services. We went to different foster homes and I haven't seen him in years. I tried to track him down a couple of times but I couldn't ever get anywhere."

 

"So, no one?" She nodded. "Same here," he confessed.  "Larry's probably taken over my boat by now, but—"

 

"I'll probably have my apartment for a while. I guess it depends on how long the Air Force keeps paying me. I did the whole automatic payment thing."

 

"Cool, so when we get back, I can crash with you," he said.

 

"Really?"

 

"Yeah, I mean, if you don't mind and all."

 

"No, no I don't mind," she hurried to say. "It's a little small, but—"

 

"I live on a thirty foot boat. Size is relative," he interrupted. "Besides, all I need is a TV, a nearby liquor store, a hot blond and –"

 

"And?" she asked, feeling her face flush with his compliment. She still wasn't used to that, to being around someone who liked her, and wasn’t afraid to say it out loud. Sometimes it made her feel uncomfortable that he was so free with his compliments. But at the same time, it also made her feel good.

 

He wasn't like Rodney McKay, whose compliments were calculated and cold, meant solely to ease his way and get him what he wanted. Jack's compliments were almost casually delivered, but it was that same casualness that led her to trust them – and to trust him.

 

"You got a queen sized bed?" he asked, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

 

"King size actually," she admitted. "They had a sale and it was cheaper than the queen size and—"

 

"What more does a man need," he interrupted, bending down to kiss her, silencing her babbling. She slid her arms around his waist, closing her eyes and giving into the sensation of his mouth on hers.

 

This was the best thing about being trapped in the past and another side effect of being different from those that surrounded them. Since Teal'c and Daniel spent so much time together she and Jack were free to also get to know each other better. And she was enjoying every minute of it. Despite all the disadvantages, the mediocre food, the lack of water and the primitive sanitary facilities. In fact, if it wasn't for Jack, she had a feeling that she'd be rather miserable.

 

"Jack? Sam? Are you—" Daniel's voice broke into Sam's brain and she felt Jack's grip tighten, his arms tensing around her. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked, his tone more than a little condescending and annoyed.

 

Jack pulled back, his arms keeping Sam close. "Not yet. But you're getting there," he said, rolling his eyes, before settling back a bit. They were still seated side by side, but Jack kept her close, stifling her instinct to put some distance between them.

 

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, hoping to defuse the situation.

 

"There's been a development in the main village," Daniel said, either picking up on Jack's warning or deciding that his news was more important than a bicker session.

 

"Rebellion?" Jack asked hopefully.

 

"More like invasion." Daniel glanced out the tent and reached back, pulling the flap down to give them a semblance of privacy. He stepped closer, lowering his voice. "We just had another Ha’tak ship attack Ra."

 

"Another ship?" Sam asked, getting to her feet. "I thought only Ra was here." She turned to Jack. "Isn't that what the tape said?"

 

"It looks like the tape is wrong again," Daniel said.

 

"Who's on that ship?" Jack asked, also standing up.

 

Daniel shook his head. "We don't know yet. I've got people looking into it."

 

"Where's Teal'c?"

 

"He's trying to find out some information too."

 

"What about the Jaffa that were out there this morning?" Jack asked.

 

"Recalled," Daniel said. "They've all left."

 

"What do we do now?" Sam asked.

 

Daniel glared at her for a second. "I would say unless you're in the mood to see what a third incarnation of yourselves looks like, we find a way to get this Goa’uld the hell off Earth before he totally screws up the timeline."

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

Teal'c slowly eased his way around the corner, careful to keep his shoulders stooped and his eyes low. This was the day when Ra habitually held an audience to receive offerings from his slaves and Teal'c was attending in an effort to see if Ra was indeed still in control of this planet.

 

He feared that he would not be pleased by the information he found.

 

It was not uncommon for Goa’uld to attack and attempt to acquire the holdings of another.  However, if Daniel Jackson's recollections were correct and matched Teal'c's own, Apophis never showed an interest in the Tau'ri. In fact, Apophis never even knew that the Tau'ri were a reality until recently. Or, perhaps, to be more accurate, just prior to Teal'c abandoning his god and becoming a shol’vah.

 

He still found himself puzzled as to his actions. He did not possess a definitive answer to what led him to betray Apophis. He did not know why he betrayed his god and returned the Tau'ri's possessions to them.

 

He could not believe it was the simple words of the female, the one who knew his name yet did not look upon him with fear. Perhaps it was the leader, O'Neill and his honesty and frankness. Or perhaps it was watching from the shadows, witnessing the hours of torture Daniel Jackson withstood before his implantation.

 

Or perhaps it was a barely remembered story from an old man, telling of a magical place of prophecy, a world of the ancestors and the discovery that such a place did indeed exist and apparently, possessed enough power to fight the Goa’uld.

 

Perhaps it was seeing himself upon their magical device, witnessing with his own eyes how things could have, should have been. Perhaps it was the knowledge that somewhere, sometime, he still had his son. Not only his son, but one grown to adulthood and married.

 

And freedom. The Jaffa were free? Free of rule and tyranny? Free to make their own choices and decisions. Free to live their lives without sacrificing them to the whims of a false god. He had never dared to do more than dream of such a thing.

 

The door behind the dais opened and Teal'c stepped back, one hand rising to tug the cowl lower. He edged towards the back of the room as Ra's Jaffa filed out, lining up on either side of the throne.

 

To his surprise, Ra did walk out, escorted by his entourage and trailed by a fifth figure, one wearing fine golden robes. A large crown rested upon his head, framed by long, dark hair. He was not of Ra's race, his skin was lighter even though it was tanned dark by the sun. The man's eyes were light colored, another rarity amongst Ra's people. Ra did not sit, instead he stood to the side as the man in the robes sat, the simple act denoting Ra's submissiveness to him.

 

"I am Heh," he said, raising his voice to carry to the furthest corners of the chamber. "And I am your god. Obey me, and you shall survive."

 

Teal'c stared, the familiarity of the voice sending chills down Teal'c's spine. He stared, now seeing beyond the Goa’uld's fine clothing and coloring. "I know that there are strangers among you, fair skinned visitors from another time and place.  You will bring them to me, or you shall suffer my wrath."

 

He motioned and two of the Jaffa stepped forward, randomly plucking one of the faithful from the crowd and dragging him forward. They pushed the boy to his knees as Heh got to his feet, throwing back his robes with a dramatic flourish. He stood over the trembling boy, studying him for a few seconds before raising his left hand.

 

The ribbon weapon wrapped around his arm flared into life and as Teal'c watched, the boy screamed, the beam of light cutting into his brain. Mercifully, it was over in just seconds, the boy collapsing with one final gasp.

 

"Take him away. Leave his body outside the temple," Heh ordered. "Bring me the strangers. Every day that they continue to elude me, you shall die." He spun on his heel, stalking back to the throne and sitting back down with a flourish. "Round up one hundred villagers and take them to the holding cells," he ordered the Jaffa. "Then tell the ones that are left that I shall kill one of them every day until the strangers are delivered to me."

 

The gathered faithful gasped, muttering amongst themselves, clearly shocked by his words.  Heh ignored them, getting to his feet and walking slowly out of the throne room, Ra and his entourage following in his wake.

 

Teal'c hurriedly slipped around the corner, allowing himself to blend in with the retreating people. This was indeed a most worrisome development. The people of the village were loyal to them and supported the rebellion. Many of them were willing to die to gain their freedom, however not all of them were. And those people were a danger now, a weakness that Heh could exploit.

 

As Teal'c exited the temple he decided to abandon his normal routine, which was to linger in the market place and observe. Instead, he strode purposefully towards the outskirts of the village, his destination the current hiding place of O'Neill and Samantha Carter. They had a great need to be made aware of this development. And, he had to admit, he wished to be there when he informed them of Heh's presence. It would be most interesting to see if Samantha Carter could envision a theory to explain not only how the young Tau'ri he'd seen die on Chulak was now on Earth, but also how he managed to traverse five thousand years of time, without the assistance of a time ship.

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

"You saw what?" Jack demanded, his voice echoing off the walls of the tent.

 

"Who," Sam corrected.

 

"Huh?"

 

"Heh," Teal'c answered.

 

"Don't," Jack warned, pointing his finger at Sam. Teal'c had just returned from the main camp, the faint sheen of sweat covering his bald head testifying to the speed of his journey. Outside, many of the villagers had gathered, most horrified by the new Goa'uld's pronouncement. Thus far, none of the Jaffa had made it into this area, but Jack knew that it was just a matter of time.

 

"The Goa'uld who has subjugated Ra calls himself Heh," he said.

 

"Egyptian god of infinity," Daniel remarked, pacing slowly.

 

"Have you heard of him before?" Sam asked.

 

"Obviously," Daniel said. "Just not as a Goa’uld. The SGC was in operation for over eight years when we left. We ran across a lot of Goa’uld, some of them impersonated Earth's gods, some didn't. We ran across Ba'al, Osiris, Morrigan, Camulus, Sokar, Olekun, Anubis, Ares, Hathor, Bastet, Kali." He ticked off the names on his fingers.

 

"Those were all Goa’uld?" Sam asked, her eyes wide.

 

"And more," Teal'c said.

 

"Actually, they were system lords," Daniel corrected. "At one time the Tok'ra took a census. They counted dozens of system lords, thousands of Goa’uld. Of course, that was five thousand years in the future. The numbers could be totally different now."

 

"I only care about two," Jack said. "Ra and this Heh guy."

 

"I'm just wondering where in the hell he came from," Daniel said. "To the best of my knowledge, the only Goa’uld who have been on Earth were Ra, Seth, Osiris, Isis and Hathor. Apophis raided it once, right before we founded the SGC."

 

"Heh came from Chulak," Teal'c said.

 

"How do you figure that?" Jack asked.

 

"Heh's host is the Daniel Jackson from your timeline," he said, his voice even.

 

"He's dead," Sam said. "I saw him die. You—You shot him," she pointed at Teal'c.

 

"Indeed."

 

"Apophis must have thrown him in a sarcophagus," Daniel said softly.

 

"Sarcophagus?"

 

"The Goa’uld use them. They can prolong life. They can also reanimate dead tissue."

 

"So he's like a zombie?" Sam asked, making a cringing face.

 

"Not quite. Although it does have some rather nasty side effects," Daniel said, his eyes dark and speaking of a deeply set pain.

 

"Dead or alive, we left him on another planet, five thousand years in the future," Jack said..

 

"There's more than one way to time travel," Daniel shrugged. "He must have figured it out."

 

"There's more than one way?" Sam asked. "Really?"

 

"Heh has promised to execute one villager a day until we are delivered unto him," Teal'c said, interrupting Sam.

 

"They won't turn us in," Daniel said, shaking his head.

 

"How can you be sure?" Jack asked.

 

"I know these people. I've lived among them for the past five—"

 

"Which means that every single one of them knows who you are," Jack retorted.

 

"And they would die before betraying me."

 

"The question is will they let their children die in your place?"

 

"It won't come to that."

 

"It already has!"

 

"We gotta fix this," Sam said, getting to her feet. Daniel and Jack turned, both ceasing their bickering. She fell silent, cringing a bit under their scrutiny. "Look," she said, taking a deep breath. "You said that you'd never heard of Heh." She pointed at Daniel. "And you said that he's our Daniel brought back to life." She pointed to Teal'c who nodded. "So it's our fault that he's here and we need to fix it and make it so that history happens the way it's supposed to." Her words tumbled to a stop and she stood there, her eyes darting between the three of them.

 

"Doctor Carter is correct," Teal'c said. "For your history to happen the way it is written, Heh must be killed and Ra must be returned to power."

 

"I'll just go ask him to leave," Daniel said, his voice openly mocking.

 

"If he's anything like he was before he got the snake in the head, he won't listen," Jack said, tired of the man's attitude. "Besides, we'll never make it through all the Jaffa."

 

"What do you mean I won't listen?" Daniel asked, turning to face Jack.

 

"If it wasn't for the fact that Teal'c here vouches for you, I'd wonder if  you didn't have a snake in your head," Jack said.

 

"That's it," Sam said.

 

"What's it?"

 

"How we stop him," she said.

 

"How do we stop him?" Daniel asked.

 

"We don't. You do." She turned, poking Daniel lightly in the chest.

 

"Sam?" Jack asked.

 

"We don't have to fight our way into the ship," she said.

 

"We don't?" Daniel asked.

 

She shook her head. "The Jaffa will just let you walk right in."

 

"They will?" he asked skeptically. "What, do I know the magic word?"

 

"Bow before your god," she said, a grin on her face and her tone mocking.

 

"You are proposing that Daniel Jackson assumes the persona of Heh to gain entrance to the ship, and then assassinates his double?" Teal'c asked.

 

"Assassinates?" she asked, frowning.  "No, I didn't quite mean—"

 

"That could work," Jack said, interrupting her.

 

"You want me to kill myself?" Daniel asked.

 

"Not necessarily," Jack said. "All you have to do is replace Heh, take command of his ship, turn Earth back over to Ra and leave."

 

"That still doesn't fix everything," Daniel said. "Now that he's been challenged, there's a very good chance that Ra will retaliate. And he could still pick up the Stargate and leave and we'll be right back where we started."

 

"Did you not say, Daniel Jackson, that the one difference between your world and the world of O'Neill and Doctor Carter was the existence of the Stargate?"

 

"Stargates actually," Sam said. "We had one, buried in Antarctica. Daniel's Earth had two, one still in Antarctica and one that they found buried in Egypt in 1928. We think the histories diverged when Ra took our Stargate with him."

 

"That's what we gotta do then," Jack said. "Getting rid of Ra isn't that big of a deal. What we have to do is keep the Stargate here."

 

"I'll just….chain it down," Daniel said. "Maybe a really big version of the club—"

 

"Actually, I have a better idea," Jack said, smiling grimly. "A MUCH better idea."

 

 

<><><><><> what

 

 

Daniel peeked around the corner once Teal'c had verified that the way was clear, walking beside him down the dim halls of the Ha’tak. Fortunately, Heh seemed to be confident in his own security and there appeared to be a minimal number of Jaffa on guard.

 

This was the most dangerous part of their plan. On the streets, he was just Daniel, a friend who was once a stranger. In the heart of the Ha’tak, he was apparently Heh, loyal – or not – servant of Apophis and conqueror of Ra.

 

But here, in the lowest levels of the ship and still wearing his desert robes, he was neither. He was a risk and a liability and totally dependant on Teal'c for his survival.

 

Part of him was ok with that. Teal'c looked and acted enough like his friend that Daniel found himself sometimes forgetting that the Jaffa he'd known for eight years was dead.

 

There was another part of him, however, that just couldn’t forget that this Teal'c wasn't his friend. He hadn't renounced Apophis. Hadn't fought for over a decade to free his people. This Teal'c still had his prim’tah and, when Daniel looked into his eyes, carried more ghosts than Daniel even wanted to think of.

 

Teal'c held up his hand and Daniel stopped, following him into a small anteroom. "What's going on?" Daniel whispered, wondering for a second if he'd been betrayed.

 

"Jaffa routinely alternate their duty positions. They are doing that now," he explained.

 

"Shift change, great," Daniel sighed. "How long?"

 

"Several minutes," Teal'c answered, staring at Daniel. "The confusion would assist our plans, however the increased number would make eluding them most difficult."

 

"Then we'll wait," Daniel decided, glancing around the room.

 

It was tiny, perhaps ten feet square and was totally empty. Daniel slid down the wall, sitting on the floor. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. In one way, he was glad for the delay. He had some very serious doubts about this plan.

 

On the surface, it seemed easy enough. All he had to do was sneak in, kill Heh, free Ra and leave. Of course, that presumed that he didn't get caught, that Heh didn't fight back, that Ra wasn’t in the mood for revenge and that he would just pick up and leave like he was supposed to.

 

Carter may be optimistic, but he wasn't. To quote Jack, when the hell had plan A ever worked?

 

Daniel looked up, studying his companion. Teal'c was wearing his uniform, boots, kilt, breast plate and chain mail. His helmet was down, revealing his face. Unlike the Teal'c he knew, this one habitually wore the tight fitting head covering that Daniel was used to only seeing on Bra'tac.

 

He was quieter than Daniel was used to, rarely joining in on the conversation.  And his relationship with Jack was different too. The rapport that Daniel was used to seeing just wasn't there. Teal'c seemed to be ok with Sam, but she was so different too. She was louder than his Sam, more giggly and expressive but she also seemed more fragile.

Maybe that was what drew them to her, good old fashioned male protectiveness.

 

Daniel sure didn't see it, in fact, she pretty much got on his nerves. Maybe it was because she reminded him too much of his own Sam and reminded him of that horrible time between when they'd arrived here and when she…they all died.

 

In a way, Daniel regretted it, regretted a lot of it. To say things had been tense was an understatement. They'd been tense in the beginning, and soon escalated to intolerable. Daniel remembered watching as Jack and Teal'c grew more and more restless, chafing under the restraint Sam enforced upon them.

 

Daniel had to admit, she even drove him nuts. She didn't want to do anything, anything at all. She didn't want them to talk to anyone, interact with anyone, hell, she'd even disproved of him when he'd helped deliver Amika's baby.

 

Sam may have been content to hide in her tent but he wasn't, and neither were Jack and Teal'c. That was probably Daniel's biggest regret about the whole thing. Not just that they had been trapped here, but that there'd been so much enmity between them before the end.

 

"Where's Rya’c?" he asked, doing his best to get out of his bad memories. What had happened, happened. And there was no way in hell to change it.

 

Teal'c turned. "Daniel Jackson?"

 

"Your son, Rya’c. Where is he?" Daniel asked.

 

"Dead," Teal'c said.

 

"How?"  
  


"Heru'ur attacked Chulak in retribution for an attack made upon him. As First Prime, my family was taken hostage and executed," he said.

 

"I'm sorry," Daniel said. He'd been suspecting as much but it was sad to have confirmation.

 

Teal'c nodded his head. He turned his attention back to the door, then turned back. "Did you know my son?" he asked, his voice barely audible.

 

"What?"  
  


"The tape that Doctor Carter showed me mentioned that my son had just been married. Did you know him?"

 

"Yeah, I did," Daniel said. "Rya’c was a fine son. Strong, brave. And Kar'yn is lovely."

 

"Kar'yn?"

 

"His wife," Daniel explained. Teal'c nodded again. "He works with Bra'tac on the rebellion."

 

"Bra'tac is dead," Teal'c said. "He was tortured to death for heresy."

 

"Is that why you came?"

 

"Of what do you speak?"

 

"Is that why you killed me and came here?" Daniel asked.

 

"I killed you because I knew that you were a Goa’uld and that Apophis was planning to invade the home world of the Tau'ri. Among my people there is a legend, a tale of the first world, a place where all humans and Jaffa first emerged."

 

Daniel nodded. "That's Earth."

 

"Yes. The people of Earth need to rise up against Ra and denounce him so that they will possess the strength to challenge the Goa’uld in the future. That is what must happen so that the universe may be free of the scourge of the Goa’uld. That is something to protect."

 

Daniel nodded, then shifted his gaze to the door before looking back at Teal’c. "How's it look out there?"

 

"It will be safe in a few moments," Teal'c said, not even bothering to look out the opening.

 

Daniel got to his feet. "What are we going to do about this?" He plucked at his robe. "I don't think it quite meets the dress code of a Goa’uld."

 

"A god can wear whatever he wishes," Teal'c said. "However, I believe that I can ascertain the location of Heh's quarters. Should you desire it, we can obtain a change of clothes.”

 

Daniel sighed, dreading the prospect of golden robes. "I don't know if I desire it, but it might be for the best. You never know who we'll run into."

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

 

Jack trudged through the sand, glad that he was out of sight of the village so that he could wear his sunglasses. It was early morning, and even though it was the equivalent of winter, it was still warm and bright in the Egyptian desert.

 

There was a constant breeze that shifted and moved the sands, slowly creating the heavy dunes that they were walking through. All in all, he found it more than a little disorientating to try to navigate the shifting terrain. In fact, if it wasn't for the homing device he had, he knew it'd be very easy to totally lose the gate ship.

 

"How much further?" Sam asked, jogging slightly to catch up with him. Realizing that she walked slower, he altered his pace.

 

She wore a robe like him and a head covering, the only real thing that they had to protect her fair skin from the unforgiving elements. She'd picked up a bit of a tan in recent weeks, just like all of them had. However, since she was so light to begin with, he knew she'd never have skin dark enough to blend in well with the natives. And he didn't even want to think about what they'd think if they ever got a good gander at her hair, her eyes caused enough of a stir.

 

He didn't think she realized it, but they all kept an eye on her whenever traders wandered through the village. With her coloring, she'd be highly prized in the slave market.

 

"Coupla clicks," he said, holding up the scanner so that she could see the read out.

 

"Clicks? Kilometers," she said, smiling. "Right. Kilometers. Umm…."

 

"What?" he asked as her voice trailed off.

 

"Ok, I know that you have a plan and all but…you know the Stargate won't fit into the gate ship?"

 

"Ya think?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

 

"Then, umm, how are we going to…"

 

"Trust me," he said, turning to look at her. "I do have a plan."

 

"What is it?"

 

"What's what?"

 

"What's the plan?"

 

"It's need to know."

 

She nodded, "Ok. No, wait. If I'm doing it then I think I need to know it," she insisted.

 

"You think you do?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"Why?" he teased.

 

"Because."

 

"Because why?"

 

"BECAUSE!" She grabbed his arm and tried to stop him.

 

Jack glared at her for a few seconds, then gave in, unable to keep his grim expression. "We can't get the Stargate into the ship."

 

"Right, it's too small, the ship that is. I mean, it's made to fit in the Stargate and—" She broke off, her eyes going wide and her mouth opening.

 

"A light dawns," he teased.

 

"You're going to fly the gate ship through the inactivate Stargate and use it to pick up the gate," she said.

 

"Be like a giant game of ring toss," he said, gesturing wide. He made a ring with his left forefinger and thumb and then held his right forefinger straight, sticking it through the ring. "Elegant in its simplicity."

 

"The gate is really, really heavy. Are you sure that the gate ship can pick it up?" she asked.

 

"One way to find out," he said, ignoring his own doubt. He really had no idea if the ship had enough thrust to pick up the huge stone ring; hell, he didn't even know how much the gate weighed much less how much thrust the gate ship could generate. It was far from a foolproof plan, but it was the only one he had.

 

"What if it doesn’t work?" she asked, falling into step with him as he continued on his way.

 

"Look, it's better than nothing. And we don’t have to get it very far, just somewhere where Ra can't find it. Hell, we can drop it in the sand and park the gate ship on top of it. Make a hell of a paper weight," he said.

 

"What if Daniel can't…umm, you know,  take care of Heh?" she asked.

 

Jack shrugged. "I don't know. We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

 

"There aren't any bridges here. They don't have any water."

 

Jack laughed, tossing his arm across her shoulder and pulling her close. "You're funny," he said.

 

"I am?" Her voice was low and had a definite note of worry in it.

 

"That's a good thing," he reassured her. "I haven't had much to laugh about for a while. It feels good."

 

"It does?"

 

"Yes, it does."

 

They walked along for several more minutes, Jack silently amazed at how well they fit together. She knew when to push him. When to dig in her heels and give him a good kick in the ass.

 

But she also knew when to back down, to not do anything, to just be there. She trusted him and he wasn't used to that. Sara used to question him, grill him incessantly. She always wanted to know where he was, what he was doing. Always thought the worst and never believed anything he said. Rationally, he knew what it was, knew that she'd never recovered from the death of their son.

 

He knew that a stillbirth wasn't easy for anyone. Hell, he still had the occasional nightmare about the tiny, fragile body he'd held in his hands, so cold and limp. So pale and perfect. Just like a doll. A fragile, delicate little doll.

 

He still remembered the panic in the doctor's eyes when he'd delivered Charlie. The frantic efforts of the nurses to revive him, the silent dread that filled the room as they failed.

 

In one way, his son had never lived, never drew a breath. But to Sara, he had been alive. She'd felt the baby move within her. She'd even bought a stethoscope so that she could listen to his heart beat. And she never forgave herself for killing him.

 

Or that was how she insisted upon interpreting events. She refused to listen to anyone, refused to accept that it was just a horrible, tragic accident. She'd spent the next five years immersing herself in research, determined to find a cause – a cure.

 

She was so focused on her research that she no longer had time for him. After the baby died, they didn't have a marriage anymore. He remembered moving to the guest room to give her some space. Five years later, he moved out of that guest room permanently.

Maybe he'd made a mistake. Maybe he should have pushed her, not let her withdraw from him. Tried to pull her out of that never-ending abyss of guilt she was wallowing in.

He still questioned himself, still wondered that, maybe, had he not given her the space she wanted, maybe they'd still be together.

 

"Ya know," he said, leading her around a large dune. "There's no reason why we have to stay here."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"Once the revolution happens, why can't we go find somewhere else a bit more…temperate?" he suggested.

 

"Temperate?"

 

He shrugged. "You know, somewhere, maybe somewhere a bit more hospitable. Hell, we can go find ourselves a nice deserted island where we know we can't futz up history."

He'd harbored the idea for quite some time, finding somewhere more friendly, somewhere where she might fit in better. And, even in 3000 BC, there had to be other places where day to day life wasn't quite such a struggle.

 

"It's really, really hard to travel. Most people of this era never moved more than twenty miles from where they were born," she said.

 

"Ah yes. But they didn't have a ship," he said, recognizing the large rock formation where they'd parked the ship. He pushed the button on the remote and it shimmered into view. "I wonder what Hawaii was like in 3000 BC?"

 

"Almost like it is now, I mean then. The islands are a bit different but some of the volcanic rock on Hawaii is over a hundred million years old," she said, following him into the ship.

 

"Sweet," he said, sealing up the back of the ship as he sat down in the pilot's chair. "Now all we gotta do is make you a bikini and we got it made."

 

"Bikini?" she said in a small voice, sliding into the other seat. "I don't really think that—"

 

"Commando then," he said, laying his hands on the console and firing up the ship. He glanced over at her, making a show of looking at her from head to toe, largely because he loved it when she blushed. "It'd be a shame to cover up that hot bod of yours with a suit anyway."

 

She gulped and he grinned, knowing that it was sorta bad to razz her like that, but it was just so damn much fun.

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

Feet marched closer and Teal'c stopped, pushing Daniel behind a large false wall. Fortunately, the man seemed well used to furtive measures and held himself silent waiting until the Jaffa were further down the hall before speaking. "Shouldn’t we be getting close?" he asked.

 

"I believe so," Teal'c said. "My information was that Ra's quarters were one deck above us. I can only presume that Heh has appropriated those."

 

Daniel shrugged. "And if he hasn't?"

 

"We can procure you clothing there."

 

"That's always a plus."

 

Teal'c lowered his staff weapon, hiding a smile at the wary look on the man's face. Yes, this Daniel Jackson did trust him, however not implicitly. This was a good thing. Trust should not be so easily given. "It would be best if you preceded me," he said.

 

"Am I your prisoner?" Daniel asked.

 

Teal'c nodded. "That would be a likely scenario."

 

"What, aah, what if, you know…" He gestured towards his face, pointing out his obvious resemblance to Heh.

 

"Your appearance is precisely why you have committed heresy by daring to resemble a god and must be punished," Teal'c said evenly.

 

"Lucky me," Daniel quipped, rolling his eyes. "Let's go."

 

They made their way out into the corridor, Daniel pulling his cowl up to obscure his face. Teal'c was pleased to see that he effected a meek and subdued posture, one appropriate to someone being brought before his god for punishment.

 

It felt oddly familiar for Teal'c to be marching confidently through the halls of a Ha’tak ship. In a way, he did miss it. He missed the comforts and honor that belonged to his former position. He missed the respect of his men.

 

He did not miss the raids. Attacking helpless planets to obtain naqahdah or slaves for Apophis. He did not miss the screams of terror or the desperate pleas for mercy.

 

He did not miss that he no longer had to commit atrocities in the name of a false god.

He knew that he could never fully atone for his sins and that, when the time of his death came, he would never join his wife and son in Kheb.

 

However, he hoped that he could atone for his sins in some small way.

 

Perhaps that was why he had submitted to the ideas of the Tau'ri. That was why he had allowed Samantha and O'Neill's words to sway him. Why he'd seen Daniel Jackson's possession by the Goa’uld as something worse than the horror that it was.

 

He knew that he was not just watching the death of a man, but the fate of an entire world hanging in the balance.

 

Theirs was the first world, its importance only overshadowed by that of Dakara and Kheb. The Tau'ri could not fall, especially if what he had heard himself say on their tape was true.

 

The Jaffa were free? The idea seemed fantastical, a dream he did not dare to dream. He found it almost beyond belief that he was truly here. He was in the time of Ra and, most likely, walking amongst his ancestors.

 

This was a tale to regale his children with, should he ever marry again. That was another dream that he was starting to think of. Dare he even consider finding a new mate? It was something that he knew Samantha Carter did not approve of. What if he begot a son who affected Earth's history? What if any of them did?

 

Yet he also did not relish the thought of spending the rest of his life alone. Of course, should the Tau'ri succeed in freeing their world from the rule of Ra, then he would not live long enough to have regrets. His current prim’tah was approximately halfway mature, so he knew that he would require a new one in a few years. A requirement that would not be met if Ra left.

 

Perhaps that would be for the best. If he did not live more than a few years, then his effect upon this planet would hopefully be minimal.

 

"Jaffa, kree!"

 

Daniel Jackson froze, his hands raising into the air. "What is the meaning of this?" Teal'c demanded, grateful that the helmet was hiding his face.

 

"It is I who should be asking that," the Jaffa said, three more joining him in blocking their way. The Jaffa stared at him, his eyes narrowing in scrutiny. "Why do you conceal your face?"

 

"My helmet was damaged capturing this hataka," Teal'c said, giving Daniel a shove with his staff weapon.

 

"What is your name? I do not recognize your voice," the Jaffa challenged.

 

"I am—" Teal'c started, aware that there was no need to conceal his identity five thousand years before his birth.

 

"His name is Teal'c and he is shol’vah," a familiar voice said, coming from behind Teal'c. At his words, the Jaffa all raised and armed their staff weapons.

 

Teal'c turned, hearing Daniel curse softly as he saw his duplicate for the first time. Heh strode towards Teal'c, four Jaffa flanking him. Two of them stepped forward, quickly disarming and restraining Teal'c while two of the first Jaffa grabbed Daniel's arms, putting an end to his ineffective struggles. Heh walked past Teal'c and stood before Daniel. He reached out and yanked Daniel's cowl down as Daniel grimaced.

 

"You know, I tried the whole long hair thing in the nineties. It's a real pain in the ass," he said defiantly.

 

Heh chuckled. "You will not joke so blithely about pain when we are finished. Take him to my chambers," he ordered, stepping back. "Put the Jaffa in the dungeons. Do not harm him too seriously. I prefer my executions to have lively guests of honor," he ordered.

 

The Jaffa ushered Teal'c roughly down the corridor, quickly separating him from Daniel. His last thought as he lost sight of Daniel Jackson was that his failure would not just cost him his life, but that it would doom an entire world.

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

 

Sam sat in the co-pilot's seat, unable to resist leaning forward to look out the windshield. Was windshield the right name for something made by an advanced race? She didn’t know, but it certainly was an appropriate description.

 

Outside the tawny dunes sped by, looking almost  like waves on the ocean. Except for them being made from sand and being way too big to really be waves.

 

"You smear up the window and I'll make you clean it," Jack teased.

 

"What?" Sam glanced over at him. His hands gently held the joystick type controls.

 

"If you lean any further forward, you might as well just hop up on the dash."

 

"Sorry," she muttered, sitting back.

 

"Don’t be sorry," he said, frowning. "You like to fly?"

 

"Oh, who doesn’t?"

 

"You'd be surprised," he muttered. "Why don't you come over and give it a try," he offered.

 

"Oh, I couldn't." She shrunk back in her seat, her hands in her lap.

 

"Why the hell not?"

 

"I aah, well I don't have the gene and..."

 

"Just get your ass over here," he said, maneuvering the gate ship to land in a flat area between the dunes. "Come on," he urged, scooting back in the seat.

 

"No, I—"

 

"Sam, get your ass over here!" he ordered.

 

She got to her feet and hurried over, pausing when he didn't get up. He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her down to sit between his sprawled legs. "Ok." He wrapped his hands around hers and pulled them up, guiding her to take the controls. "Every plane – or space ship – has three basic controls, yaw, pitch and thrust. These little doohickeys here control that," he explained.

 

Sam instinctively tightened her grip on the controls, the calluses on his hands reminding her of hers, an unavoidable byproduct of primitive times and a lack of hand lotion. His thumb idly rubbed hers while his legs shifted a bit, tightening around hers.

 

Glad that he couldn’t see her face, she grinned, not so secretly reveling in the fact that he was there and, well, that he liked her. She wasn't used to that, guys liking her. Or, to be more accurate, hot, cool and totally hunky guys liking her.

 

Not only did Jack seem to like her, he seemed to really like her…a lot. He hadn't quite said the "L" word, the other one that was similar to like but had two letters different, two very important letters. But she thought that it was coming, eventually.

 

She didn't want to think about if it didn't come. But, then again, it wasn't like she was going to just hit the nearest bar and pick up someone else. She could deal with just being liked.

 

He was such a nice guy…most of the time. He knew how to make her laugh and did the sweetest things, like tracking down the Egyptian version of candy one day to satisfy her sweet tooth.

 

Then again, at times he could be a real jerk and had one hell of a nasty temper, especially the first couple of weeks that they were here and he realized that there was no such thing as coffee in Egypt.

 

Sam relaxed her hands and let Jack maneuver the controls, neatly taking flight again. He twisted them back and forth, the gate ship responding flawlessly. Sam smiled, feeling the soft thrum of the ship's engines through the palms of her hands.

 

She was doing it, she was actually flying. "See, it's not that hard," he said, easing the ship lazily back and forth, dipping down to skim the tops of the dunes.

 

"Easy for you to say," she said. "Without you here, I can't even turn the lights on."

 

He shrugged. "Better than lojack," he quipped. "So, any idea where we can hide the gate once we snag it?" he asked.

 

"Umm, no, not exactly." She glanced over her shoulder, barely catching a glimpse of his face. "It's a big desert, I just thought we could, you know, take it a few miles out into the desert and sorta leave it there."

 

He shrugged. "Sounds like a plan to me."

 

"But, what if they come looking for it?" she asked.

 

"We'll camouflage it."

 

"How?"

 

"How do you think?" He dipped the craft forward, nosing it down a bit until all she could see was sand. She gulped, instinctively pulling at the controls to nose the craft back up. "See, told you it was easy," he gloated.

 

She rolled her eyes, wishing that her hands were free so that she could slap him. "If we bury it in the sand how will we find it again?"

 

"Hey, it was buried in the first time line. If it worked then, it'll work now," he dismissed.

 

She sighed, accepting his logic. "So, now what do we do?" she asked, catching sight of the village on the horizon.

 

"We steal the gate," he said. Sam heard a small sound and realized that he'd turned on the cloak.

 

"In broad daylight?"

 

"Why not?"

 

"But then they're gonna know that it's gone."

 

"They'll figure it out eventually," he dismissed. "And anyway, we want to make an impression. How better to prove that Ra is a weenie than to let everyone see the Stargate vanish?"

 

"And if he gets mad and takes it out on the village?" she asked.

 

"How the hell will he explain a god losing a Stargate?" he asked. The village came into view and she craned her neck, enjoying the novelty of an aerial view. She knew that the gate ship wasn't silent and more than a few of the villagers looked up, noticing the noise.

He gained in altitude before sweeping down into the center of the village, lining up the gate ship with the dormant Stargate.

 

His hands still over hers, he maneuvered the ship towards the Stargate, carefully lining it up to fit inside the huge metal ring. "Let's just hope no one dials in," she said softly, her eyes fixated on the gate.

 

"What happens if they do?"

 

"Well, theoretically, the opening of the wormhole releases a huge amount of energy and anyone and anything caught in the splash would be disintegrated," she said.

 

"And you're telling me this now?" he asked, still moving closer.

 

"I just thought of it," she said lamely.

 

He sighed. "It's too late to worry about it." He steered the gate ship into the gate and stopped halfway through. "Now for the hard part." He tried to gain altitude, the gate ship shuddering slightly as it came into contact with the gate. The engine whine changed pitch and Sam tensed, wondering if the gate was too heavy for the gate ship to handle. "Come on," Jack muttered, his hands tightening over hers. "Come on, I know you have it in you," he cheered on the ship.

 

The engine whine changed pitch again and Sam grimaced. "I wonder if—"

 

She heard and felt a thunking sound and the ship jerked, only Jack's quick reaction keeping it from crashing. It dipped down then rose, the ship clearly straining. They gained altitude and Sam sighed, noticing the gathered villagers looking up and pointing. She knew that, to them, it had to look like the Stargate was simply floating away. "We're definitely not going to get too far," Jack said, his voice tense.

 

"We need to at least get out of sight," Sam said. "The gate has to vanish."

 

"Right." His hands were gripping hers painfully and she wished that she could pull her own free, but didn't dare. She knew that he had to be struggling to control the ship and he didn't need her distracting him. His palms were sweaty, as were his forearms and she knew that it had little to do with the ambient temperature in the gate ship.

 

They hurried forward and she could feel him pushing to get more speed out of the ship, sacrificing finesse to gain distance. They were barely clearing the dunes and she bit her lip, imagining what would happen if the bottom of the gate got caught on a dune.

 

"Just a little more," he muttered. An alarm began to sound and Sam gasped, turning her head to try and see her own panel. "Stay still," he growled. Sam hunched down, trying to get out of his way.

 

They cleared one last dune and the ship slowed, hovering over the sane. "What's wrong?" she asked after a few seconds.

 

"Did your brilliant plan include how to get the gate off this ship without crushing it?" he asked.

 

"Umm, well, I aah—"

 

"Yeah, thought so," he interrupted. "Hang tight, let's hope this works." He lowered the ship to the sand, easing his way down until the bottom of the gate was touching the earth. The gate balanced for a few seconds, then started to wobble. With one smooth move, Jack withdrew the wings of the ship and zoomed forward, somehow managing to speed out from under the gate without crashing into the nearby dune.

 

He spun the ship around and Sam stared, fascinated as she watched the gate sway back and forth for a few seconds, before finally crashing to the ground with a thunderous roar and a large cloud of sand.

 

Jack set the ship down with a rough thump and released the controls, slumping back in the seat. Sam slowly peeled her hands away from the joysticks, flexing them to relieve the cramping. They'd done it. They'd just stolen a Stargate.

 

She grinned, overjoyed that their mission had gone off without a hitch.

 

"So," he said, his hands coming up to lightly rest on her thighs. "Was it good for you?"

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

Two Jaffa 'escorted' Daniel into an opulent room and he resisted the urge to protest or struggle. The only thing it would accomplish would be to make them mad and add a few more bruises to his collection. Jack would always make a token protest, no matter how hopeless it was and Daniel never quite understood it. Of course, that was just how Jack was—bullheaded to the end.

 

That particular trait got him killed.

 

The Jaffa left Daniel alone, retreating back out into the corridor although Daniel didn't delude himself that they were gone.

 

He set about exploring the room, not surprised to see that Goa’uld decorating styles hadn't changed in fifty centuries. A large bed dominated one corner, piled high with gleaming white sheets and pillows. Filmy curtains were pulled aside and tied to the posters with silken cords. It was what Sam would call a fantasy bed and Daniel knew that one of the many things she'd found difficult about the past was her straw filled pallet and woolen blanket.

 

Daniel crossed over to the bed and picked up a pillow, confirming that it was down. Yep, she would have killed for one of these before—before it didn't matter anymore.

 

Tossing the pillow down, he turned, studying the rest of the room. A large charcoal burner sat against the far wall, something Daniel knew was largely for show since the atmospheric controls of the ship made such devices unnecessary.

 

In between was a table and chairs, the surface of the table cluttered with papyrus sheets and ink jars.

 

Daniel crossed to the table and picked up the papyrus, surprised to see that it was written in English instead of hieroglyphs. "It's the ultimate code," a voice said. Daniel shrugged, hiding his surprise at Heh's silent entrance. "What better than a language that doesn't exist yet," he said, setting down the papers and looking at his double for the first time. He had been surprised enough in the corridor that he'd given Heh little more than a cursory glance.

 

Heh's long hair was tied into a low ponytail, the dark strands slicked back neatly. The severe style just accentuated the cold glitter of his eyes. He was wearing tight fitted black pants tucked into equally black boots. His shirt was flowing and a brilliant bleached white and it reminded Daniel of the men on the covers of countless historical romances.

A golden robe hung off his shoulders, the flowing sleeves decorated around the cuffs with gems. "And I thought Urgo was the only guy who could pull off brocade," Daniel said, shaking his head slightly at his double's appearance. Wherever the hell he'd come from, it had to be one screwed up universe.

 

Heh chuckled, ignoring the barb. "You came back in time to save your future," he said, deliberately examining his nails. "I should tell you that you failed."

 

"No? Really?" Daniel shook his head. "And here I thought your Liberace act was just a lifestyle choice."

 

Heh's eyes narrowed for a second, and then he regained control, his face settling back into a bland mask. "Did they tell you?"

 

"Did who tell me what?"

 

"Jack O'Neill. Did he tell you how I came to be?" Heh asked.

 

"Ya got snaked, Teal'c killed you. Unfortunately, it wasn't permanent," Daniel retorted, refusing to let Heh goad him. He knew the truth of his alternate's demise. This Daniel Jackson was taken by a Goa’uld and meant to be sent back to Earth as a spy in preparation for Earth's invasion.

 

Teal'c knew about it and killed him, which allowed Jack, Sam and Teal'c to successfully make it back to the past to try and fix whatever he'd screwed up.

 

"They left me behind," Heh said. "Didn't even care that I was lying there. They just left and ran, like the cowards that they are."

 

"You were DEAD," Daniel reminded. "Were they supposed to risk their lives dragging your corpse back through the woods?" He snorted. "Please. Not even my Teal'c would have wanted to drag your sorry ass around."

 

Heh's eyes narrowed and his arm shot out, his fingers digging into Daniel's neck. "Do not speak to me in such a manner!" he ordered.

 

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Daniel taunted. "If you wanted me dead, I would be already."

 

Heh glared at him, his jaw tightening for a second before he let him go, pushing Daniel away with enough force that he stumbled. Heh sighed. "I brought you here because I have a proposition for you."

 

Daniel raised his eyebrows, coughing slightly. "Excuse me?"

 

Heh slowly paced the room. "You said on the tape that you were once an ascended Ancient."

 

"I said a lot of things."

 

Heh turned, facing Daniel. "The knowledge of the Ancients is legendary. It is said that it contains the very secrets of the universe."

 

Daniel shook his head slightly. "It's not all it's cracked up to be."

 

"I believe you are too modest. I have the memories of every one of my ancestors, and every one of them fear the Ancients and their technologies."

 

"It's smoke and mirrors. The Ancients haven't given a damn about this universe for millennia. Hell, even in my time, most of them don’t care. Speaking of my time, we have the only time ship. How did you get here?" Daniel asked, trying to answer the one question that he couldn't puzzle out. Heh had been left by Jack five thousand years in the future, dead. Couldn’t forget that last part.

 

Heh chuckled. "So naïve. Do you really think that your time ship is the only one in existence?" He shrugged. "The universe is easy to explore when you have unlimited time and a fleet of your own." He crossed his arms over his chest. "It was quite enjoyable you know. Watching Earth fall. And it did fall. All those arrogant military types begging for mercy." Heh laughed. "Did you have a Mister Journey in your timeline?"

 

"Yeah. He lived in the apartment above me. Liked to cure his insomnia by pacing the floor," Daniel remembered. The old man had cost him so much sleep that eventually he'd just given up and moved, despite the fact that, at the time, he could barely afford the rent at the tiny walk up studio apartment.

 

"I crushed his legs," Heh said, his voice eerily calm. "He screamed so loud I could barely hear the bones break, the first time anyway. He did pass out eventually so I was denied any further screams, but his bones broke so beautifully." He sighed. "I can still hear that lovely sound."

 

Daniel shuddered, his stomach churning. There was a look of utter enjoyment on his double's face, a smile that reminded him of the one on Jack's face when he'd been in that time loop. To this day, Daniel still didn't know all that Jack and Teal'c had gotten up to during those endless time loops, but whatever it was, that shit-eating grin on his friend's face told Daniel that at least one of those loops had been a doozy.

 

"Look, if all you're gonna do is reminisce about the good old days, why don't you just let the villagers go and have your Jaffa take me down to wherever you've put Teal'c," he said.

 

Heh's smile faded. "Teal'c is going to be executed in the morning," he said.

 

"Now that's something I didn't see coming," Daniel said sarcastically.

 

"I can save his life—"

 

"Of course you can."

 

"All you have to do is join me," Heh continued, ignoring Daniel's interruption.

 

"Excuse me?"

 

"You are trapped here. Stuck in a past that you dare not change for fear of altering your future. However, you have within you the knowledge, not only of the Ancients, but also of nearly ten years of Stargate travel." Heh paced closer, moving to stand directly in front of Daniel.

 

"Ten years five THOUSAND years in the future," Daniel said. "My knowledge is useless to you."

 

"Useless to me now, maybe. But not in the future."

 

Daniel shook his head. "You don't get it. The future you left probably doesn't exist any more.  You changed it the second you came back here," he said.

 

"Not everything changes," Heh said. "And enough will remain the same so that your knowledge will be useful to me…to us." He stepped forward, making Daniel step back. "Join me. With your knowledge and my power, we can rule the universe," he offered. Daniel shook his head. "I will let the shol’vah live," he bargained. "And I will call off the search for the other two.  All you have to do is swear your loyalty to me."

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

Jack trudged through the dunes, grateful that he'd kept his boots instead of adopting the sandals Daniel had gotten for him a few weeks ago. They may be hot, but they did keep the sand out, not to mention all those other pesky creatures that called the desert home.

 

"You ok?" he asked, glancing over at Sam. She walked at his side, her long legs enabling her to keep up with him despite her normal shuffling gait.

 

"Yeah," she nodded, bringing one hand up to mop the sweat off her forehead. She wore a combination of her own clothes and the native dress, using the length of cloth over her head as a barrier from the sun.

 

It was late afternoon and Jack figured that they had about another three miles to walk before they reached the camp. He knew they could have made  better time had he pushed harder, but he also knew that they were barely acclimated to the harsh, dry conditions, and he feared if he pushed too hard, one or both of them could get sick.

So he'd set an easy pace, taking frequent breaks. Sam certainly was a plucky thing for a geek – it was one of the things he found so attractive about her – and he didn't want to push her too far. He had a funny feeling she'd just follow him until she fell over.

 

And the slower pace was certainly easier on his knees.

 

"We should keep it low profile when we get back," she said, her breathing a bit harsher than normal.

 

"Don't we always?"

 

"It's just…Heh knows that we're here. And if what Teal'c said was true about Goa’ulds taking the memories of their hosts, then Daniel knows about the time ship as well."

 

"So?"

 

"So…it doesn't take a genius to figure out who made the Stargate fly away," she said.

 

Jack shrugged. "If Daniel, the other Daniel, and Teal'c did their jobs right, Heh could already be in custody." He glanced over at Sam, who nodded. She fell silent and shoved her hands into her pockets. "What?" he asked, sensing that she had more to say.

 

She shook her head. "It's just…well, I'm glad you didn't listen to me when I said you needed to blow up the ship," she said.

 

Jack sighed, remembering the one real argument they'd had since their arrival in this time. Sam had wanted to destroy the ship, find some way to blow it up or bury it so it wouldn't mess up what they hoped was a newly fixed timeline.

 

Jack had wanted to keep it for a bit. Sam was right when she'd said that travel was nearly impossible and he wasn't quite ready to destroy their only way of getting anywhere fast. And it wasn't just because he wanted the ship. If he understood all their theories right, then their greatest chance of keeping the timeline secure was to not affect it as much as possible. And it seemed to him at least, that the best way to do that would be to find somewhere nice and deserted to live. Away from the village and history.

 

He'd even humored the thought of checking out the North American continent. There might be a few native tribes there, but he thought that surely they could find a few hundred miles where no one else lived. At the very least, it'd make foraging easier since they would already have an idea about the flora, fauna and weather.

 

He just hadn't gotten around to putting his idea forth yet. The time wasn't right and he'd had this niggling feeling that they needed to hang in Egypt for a bit and make sure that things went right. At least until Ra left.

 

Of course, now he was glad that they had stayed around. They had yet another thing to fix.

 

Jack shrugged. "We will destroy it," he promised. "I know that it can't be found anywhere. We don't quite have enough C-4 to do the job so I was thinking of maybe finding a volcano to fly it into or maybe the ocean."

 

"You want to do what?" she asked, stopping and looking at him. "That's suicide."

 

He chuckled, touched by her concern. "Not if you rig up an auto pilot for me." Her mouth formed an O. Jack reached out and pulled her close, laying one arm across her shoulder. "You can call me crazy, but I do not have a death wish," he reassured her, glad when her left arm slipped around his waist and her head dipped to his shoulder. "We'll talk it over with Daniel once this is over. See if he remembers some place where we can go."

 

She nodded, falling into step with him as they started walking again. "I suppose we should ask them to come with us, shouldn't we?"

 

"I guess," he agreed grudgingly. Part of him didn't want them along. Teal'c wasn't too bad, even if he was a little quiet for Jack's peace of mind. Daniel got on his nerves though.

 

Sam assured him that this Daniel was nothing like the Daniel she'd known and that he'd barely met. She remembered the Daniel from their timeline as funny and open, if a bit flaky. They'd become friends during their time working under General Hammond, Daniel even doing his best to keep Sam included in things. This Daniel was different from hers. He was so edgy and tense and  bitter at times that Jack found it hard to spend time with him.

 

Jack could understand why, in a way. Being trapped five thousand years in the past and watching your friends die was definitely not a fun way to spend time. However, all the understanding in the world didn't do much to alleviate the fact that he and Jack seemed destined to not get along.

 

Selfishly, he sorta hoped that Daniel wouldn't want to come with them. Things would definitely be easier. But also, as annoying as the man could be, Jack knew that he couldn't leave him behind. If Daniel chose to stay, that was his issue, but it had to be his choice.

 

"It wouldn't be fair to leave him behind," she said. "Either of them."

 

"You're right," he agreed. "We'll ask them."

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

Teal'c sat on the cold floor of the cell, forcing his mind to ignore the pain radiating from all over his body. He had expected to bear the brunt of the Jaffa's rancor; it was a fate he'd delivered more than once himself. And they had not disappointed.

 

They had been most thorough, using hands and feet to deliver punishment, enough to be painful yet not so much to permanently incapacitate him. He knew that he could heal all his wounds in kelnorim, yet he did not dare make himself that vulnerable.

 

The depth of meditation required to heal his injuries was deep enough that he would be insensible to his surroundings; therefore he resolved to simply tolerate the pain and wait for it to abate.

 

And if Heh was not misrepresenting his plans, Teal'c knew that he would be dead before the next sunset, so his pain was immaterial.

 

He hoped that O'Neill and Samantha Carter were successful in their mission to steal the chaappai. Perhaps their success would be enough to insure the return to the proper timeline.

 

Teal'c sensed a presence and opened his eyes, meeting the gaze of a young Jaffa standing outside his cell door. The man stared and Teal'c could see the black mark of Ra on his forehead.

 

Teal'c did not acknowledge him. He did not know why the young man was there. It was unlikely that he was here to deliver further retribution, not alone. And Teal'c could think of nothing he had done to earn personal retribution from someone.

 

Perhaps he was simply a young man eager to see the shol’vah.

 

"They say there are two of them," he finally said after glancing up and down the hall, seemingly fearful of being overheard.

 

"Two of whom?" Teal'c asked.

 

"Heh," the Jaffa replied, his tone openly disdainful.

 

"There is only one Goa’uld named Heh. However, I was accompanied by Daniel Jackson, the counterpart of the man who is host to the parasite Heh," Teal'c answered, secretly reveling in being able to tell the truth about the Goa’uld.

 

He knew that his words could be seen as heresy, however he did not care. His fate was likely sealed and he found that he enjoyed no longer needing to guard his words.

 

"Host?"

 

"Are you not aware of the true nature of the Goa’uld?"

 

"Ra is my god and I pledged my loyalty to him," he answered.

 

"And Heh has imprisoned your god," Teal'c said, realizing that the man's loyalty to Ra would not easily be swayed. At least, not in the limited time that Teal'c had left.

 

"He has," the Jaffa confirmed.

 

Teal'c slowly got to his feet and made his way over to the cell door, unable to hide the limp from his damaged leg. One of his tormentors had taken great pleasure in kicking him there, repeating his assault until he had nearly broken the bone. Even after hours of light meditation his leg was still weak. "What is your name?"

 

"Al'zen," the Jaffa answered.

 

"I am Teal'c." Teal'c studied him, looking deep into the man's eyes. He was searching for truth, for honesty in his gaze. Teal'c knew that his next words would decide his fate. "Daniel Jackson and I journeyed here in an attempt to remove Heh from power."

 

"You will take it for yourself?"

 

"We seek to return Ra to power," Teal'c said.

 

"Why?"

 

"Because that is the way it should be," Teal'c answered, not even wanting to attempt to explain the whole situation. He did not believe that Al'zen needed to know all the events that led to Teal'c being here. And Teal'c also did not fully understand all the contributing factors himself. One did not need to know how the sun rose to enjoy its warmth.

 

"How can you be loyal to Ra if you bear the mark of another?"

 

"The Goa’uld I once served no longer exists," Teal'c said, aware that he was only telling part of the truth. Apophis did not exist, but that was because he had yet to be spawned. "And I do not wish to free Ra out of loyalty, I wish to do so because the future demands it."

 

Al'zen stared at him, his gaze narrow and appraising. Teal'c waited, ignoring the unease that bubbled in his gut. He had just confessed to conspiracy and he wondered if he had just sealed his fate. Of course, as O'Neill was fond of saying, he had nothing to lose.

 

Al'zen hand slipped into his shirt and withdrew an item, reaching between the bars to drop it onto the floor. "Harm my lord and I shall hunt you to the ends of the universe." Al'zen spun on his heel and vanished down the dim corridor.

 

Teal'c stood there for a moment, his eyes riveted on the key lying on the deck. He was aware that it could be a trap. Al'zen could be attempting to discover Teal'c's allies among the natives by following him when he fled.

 

However, Teal'c knew that he had no choice. O'Neill had an odd saying, one Teal'c did not fully understand, however it seemed to apply to the situation. It was something about a gifted horse.

 

Retrieving the key, Teal'c unlocked the cell door and made his way out into the hall. He had to find and liberate Ra, and the captured villagers. Then he would return for Daniel Jackson. He only hoped that he was not too late and that Daniel Jackson still lived.

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

 

Daniel stared at Heh, and then laughed, his mirth enraging the Goa’uld. "What kind of drugs are you on?" he asked, stepping back.

 

"You dare mock me?" Heh demanded, allowing his rage to appear on his face.

 

"No, I'm mocking me. A very badly dressed and overacted version, but me none the less." He shook his head. "I know that all Goa’uld are arrogant, it's in the genetic make-up and all that, but have you ever listened to yourself?"

 

Heh gritted his teeth and gave into his anger, one hand flying out to strike the man. Heh took great pleasure in watching him fly across the room, landing heavily on the deck.

Heh stalked over to the crumpled figure, delivering a petulant kick to the man's midsection. "Do not speak to me in such a manner!" he ordered

 

Daniel glared, slowly picking himself up off the floor. "You're nothing but a bully," he said, one arm wrapped around his abdomen. "A petulant little bully."

 

"I am your god!" Heh insisted, angered by the human's attitude.

 

"NO! You are nothing!" Jackson stepped forward, his shoulders squaring and his hands falling to his side. "You're a six inch snake who raped his way into your host's mind.  You're a pathetic creature who doesn't even have the ability to rise to power honorably. You have to cheat and connive. You are so stupid that you don't even realize that you've already lost!"

 

"I was intelligent enough to discover a way to control time," Heh gloated.

 

"Yeah, why did you do that?" Jackson asked, stepping forward. Heh stared, taken aback by the man's question. "How long did it take you?" Jackson pressed. "Five years? Ten? Fifteen? How many years did you search to find a way back?"

 

Heh refused to answer verbally, his own memories supplying the answer. Twenty years. It had taken him twenty years and a trip to an alternate universe to find a way to the past.

 

_*Flashback*_

_Defiant blue eyes, glittering with rebellion even as the life drained from her. Feeling her slump to the dirty floor, her fresh blood meshing with the dirt and dried blood from the others, so many others who had died before her. It felt good to kill her, yet not good enough._

_It was then that he realized that his revenge was hollow if it was acted upon a surrogate._

_Even his host had been amazed at the differences between the two Samantha Carters. He wondered if the mouse even knew what she was capable of._

 

*Flashback*

"If you were such a great and powerful 'god'," Jackson sneered the word, "then why come back here?"

 

"I am Master of Time and Lord of Infinity!" Heh declared.

 

Daniel stared, then snorted. "Please. You've been watching too many B movies. If you really are the Master of Time, why here? Why now? And don't tell me it was to conquer Earth because it already sounds like you've done that."

 

Heh glared, his left hand flexing, the pinch of his ribbon weapon reminding him that he could silence the human at any time.

 

"Join me," Heh invited, ignoring the human's taunts. "Together we can rule the universe."

 

"I don't want to rule the universe," Jackson shouted. "Nobody should rule the universe. There isn't a creature alive that should possess that much power."

 

"You are a fool!" Heh yelled, tiring of Jackson's presence.

 

"NO! You're the fool!" Jackson shouted back. "You had all the power in the universe and you gave it up to come back here for revenge. You're too stupid to see that your own pettiness  is your greatest weakness."

 

"I shall kill you for your impudence." Heh raised his hand, funneling all his anger and rage into the ribbon weapon. He was a fool to have considered seeking out his counterpart. He would kill the humans, then he would conquer this planet, possess it, rule it. Then he would kill them. He would kill them all.

 

Predictably, Jackson did not cower; instead he stood tall, staring at Heh. "I have a news flash for you, impudence is a good thing." Before Heh could react, Jackson's hand slipped into his robes and withdrew a dark object.

 

Heh barely had time to plumb his host's memories to identify the item when it flashed, belting out a loud crack before a sharp force struck Heh in the head and he knew no more.

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

Daniel watched dispassionately as Heh's body fell limp, twitching slightly upon the shiny deck of the ship. Blood pumped out of the gaping hole that now was his forehead, spilling across the floor in an ever-widening pool.

 

Daniel stepped forward, only remembering the pistol in his hand when he brought it up to his face and nearly poked his eye out. "Thanks, Jack," he muttered, shoving the pistol into his pocket.

 

Somehow, there was no small amount of symbolism in the fact that it was Jack's sidearm he'd used. The berretta was one of the last things he had left of his friend and it seemed appropriate that it be used to take out one last Goa’uld.

 

Daniel knelt beside Heh, careful to keep his distance from the man's head. The Goa’uld should be dead; however Daniel wasn't in a mood to take any chances.

 

The flow of blood slowed to an irregular trickle, the man's fading heartbeat not enough to keep it moving. Daniel stared, morbidly fascinated by the sluggish fluid. Daniel knew that he should be sad to see his counterpart dead, he should feel some remorse at having just committed murder. He should be sickened by the gory sight before him.

 

But he wasn't. Right now, his only regret was that it wasn't Ra who was laying here, his life's blood painting a tacky tapestry on the shiny deck.

 

The coppery smell of blood assailed his senses and Daniel's stomach lurched. He gagged and pushed himself up, trying to get away from the body. He got to his feet and stumbled a few steps, staggering when his legs got entangled in his robes.

 

His hand shot out, using the table to steady himself. He stared as his hand left a wet, bloody smear on the papers. He stared at his palm, his eyes riveted upon the crimson stain, a reminder of previous stains.

 

Blood on his hands, soaking into the cracks and fissures, cold and sticky. It was around his fingernails and it'd taken him days to get it off. Days to clean the blood off. Weeks to not see them every time he closed his eyes. Months to not hear the outcries of pain.

Forgetfulness would never come.

 

*Flashback*

_Daniel trudged through the sand, not quite sure where he was going but certain that he could find it. Death was never discreet._

_He crested a dune and caught sight of black shapes dancing on the horizon. K'htep was behind him, fortunately remaining silent as he accompanied Daniel on his mission. Daniel sighed, taking in the sight laid out before him._

_A common misconception that people had was that the desert was flat, or that it was nothing more than soft sand dunes. In reality, it was anything but. Often the sand was gone, carried away by the wind, leaving nothing but large stones or bare rock._

_In other places, even the rock was gone and deep pits and chasms lurked. One such pit lay before him and, in the pragmatic way of the nomadic dwellers, nothing in this land ever went to waste._

_This particular pit served as a garbage dump. The natives never threw away much. Most things were used and reused and recycled to the point of nothingness. However, the Goa’uld did not share that philosophy._

_They dumped many things here. Kitchen trash, unreclaimed waste and anything Ra did not want cluttering up his ship – including the dead._

_"You're certain they're here?" Daniel asked K'htep as the young man came to his side._

_"I believe so," he answered. "I saw the bodies removed and the Jaffa did not return them to the temple."_

_Daniel nodded, struck by the very surreal nature of his situation. It wasn't supposed to be like this. None of this was supposed to happen._

_He closed his eyes, still remembering the sick feeling he'd felt when he'd returned to the camp and found the tent empty. At first, he'd thought that maybe he'd missed another fight. Those had been happening more and more frequently in the recent weeks. Daniel knew that it was just an outward manifestation of Jack's frustration. He knew that Jack grew more and more annoyed every time Sam said, 'General, no.' Just as he knew Sam's own frustration level rose as the real ramifications of their situation sank in._

_She was committed to doing nothing, her singular goal to preserve the future. And the one thing that Jack wasn't capable of doing was nothing._

_The pair of them were constantly at odds, their disagreements soon passing beyond civil into regular shouting matches, shouting matches that soon breached all levels of respect and rank._

_To make things worse, Sam was often sick. Of the four of them, her system was the least used to the limited sanitation levels of the village. He, Jack and Teal'c had all spent months or years living in places where the water was less than pure, and the food, while certainly edible, was just not up to the levels of western civilization. Daniel lost count of the number of times she'd spent the whole day in her cot, too ill to do much but sleep._

_Knowing how sick she got only motivated Jack to try and do something and drove home just how screwed they really were._

_It wasn't until K'htep rushed in that Daniel knew that something was horribly wrong. That the tent was empty for a reason and that it had nothing to do with a fight._

_Daniel remembered running, dashing through the narrow alleys of the village, desperate to get to the temple, but, somehow, knowing that it was too late._

_"We must hurry," K'htep urged. "Many carrion animals feast here after it is dark," he warned his unspoken message clear. If they were still here when the sun set, they stood a chance of remaining here. Daniel nodded, joining K'htep as he made his way to the edge of the pit._

_Vultures circled and cried overhead and clouds of flies swarmed over the corpses. So many. He never realized just how many perished each day._

_A small breeze kicked up and Daniel gagged, the stench of decay wafting over him like a physical force._

_Some of the bodies were old, nothing more than scattered bleached bones. Others were just putrid hunks of flesh. And still others were fresh, their skin pale and, mostly, intact._

_"The new ones are over there," K'htep said, pointing over to the left. "The Jaffa do not exert themselves any more than required."_

_"Ok," Daniel said shortly, steadying himself. "Let's go."_

_K'htep led the way, quickly finding a narrow track that descended into the pit. The Jaffa didn't use it, why carry a corpse down when you just needed to toss it over the edge?_

_But the locals did. Daniel doubted that he was the first to journey here to retrieve a loved one._

_As he made his way down, the heat grew more and more intense, the pit's walls blocking the feeble breeze. Flashes of movement caught his eyes and Daniel stared, watching as scavenger dogs moved among the dead. A few vultures hopped on the ground, too gorged to fly. Ra had been most ruthless in his attempts to stomp out the rebellion._

_"How did it happen?" he asked, feeling the need to fill the oppressive air with something more than the buzz of the flies._

_"Two days ago. Right after you left, we received word that someone wanted to meet O'Neill," K'htep said, looking over his shoulder._

_"Just like that?"_

_"Yes. O'Neill was suspicious but he chose to meet with him. Teal'c went with them and Colonel Carter stayed behind. They were betrayed and captured for the man was loyal to Ra."_

_"And Sam?"_

_"Captured as well. They forged O'Neill's name on a message." Daniel nodded. "It is fortunate that Ra does not like torture," K'htep paused, turning to face Daniel. "They were tied to a stake and left for a day and a night. Then they were executed and left for another day as an example. We wanted to rescue them, but the Jaffa were hunting us as well. For the sake of the rebellion, we had to hide. I am sorry that we could not save them. I sent Markus to find you but I knew that you would not arrive in time."_

_"You did what you could," Daniel replied automatically. If only he'd been there. He'd left the camp three days before, ironically planning to travel to one of the caravan roads to see if he could find a herb one of the women in the village recommended. She said it was a powerful analgesic, which was something they needed now that their supplies were unavailable._

_"We did not do enough and for that I shall never forgive myself," K'htep said._

_Daniel nodded, motioning for K'htep to continue on descending into the pit. "There," he said, pointing off to his right. Daniel followed him, unable to not study the corpses they were walking by and over. Many were naked, their clothing either scavenged or torn to shreds by the carrion eaters. They were young, old, male and female._

_One thing they all had in common was the signs of a violent death._

_K'htep stopped, standing over three crumpled forms. Daniel stared, still hoping that it was wrong. It couldn't be them. It couldn't end this way. Not after all these years and all they'd been through. It had to be some hoax, some miracle pulled out of Jack's hat._

_The bodies were all tumbled together and it was impossible to tell where one ended and one began. Jack was on top, his brown eyes now clouded with death and sunk into his skull. Bruises covered his face and Daniel knew that he didn't die meekly._

_Daniel reached down and touched Jack's wrist, his breath catching when he found it cold and limp, his skin lacerated by rope burns and still tacky with blood. Carefully, he removed the simple beaded bracelet that Jack wore, barely noticing the blood from the ragged abrasions on Jack's wrists. He knew that the bodies didn't have much else on them. There's no way the Jaffa hadn't searched them upon their capture._

_The bracelet was something that Jack has acquired during that year that Daniel was gone and he was ashamed to admit that he had no idea when or where or even what it meant._

_After he removed the bracelet, K'htep stepped forward and grabbed Jack's arm, struggling to free his entangled limbs._

_As he moved him, Daniel could see the dark, gaping hole in Jack's chest, the unmistakable sign of a staff weapon blast at close range. Daniel closed his eyes, unable to watch as K'htep maneuvered the body. Hearing the sound of Jack being moved, Daniel opened his eyes, gasping as he saw Teal'c._

_His friend was bare chested, his body bearing the marks of a severe beating. Vicious cuts criss crossed his chest and his face was so swollen as to be unrecognizable. "I thought you said Ra doesn't like torture?"_

_"Ra did not do this," K'htep said. "His Jaffa did. They seeked to punish the shol’vah."_

_Daniel knelt beside Teal'c, feeling sick as he realized how horrific his friends' last hours must have been._

_Sam lay partially under Teal'c and Daniel was grateful to see that her face appeared unmarred and that her eyes were closed._

_Daniel touched her face, tears welling up in his eyes as he realized that it was real. They were dead. And there'd be no reprieve this time. No second chances or last minute salvation. Sam was dead. Jack was dead. Teal'c was dead. And they were never coming back._

_Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out his knife, the glint of the sun on the blade catching his eye. Teal'c had taught him how to sharpen the edge, spending hours on that simple task._

_From Jack, he'd learned how to throw it, actually hitting the target half the time. And from Sam he's learned how to use it, both offensively and defensively._

_Their blood had stained the blade more than once, either by accident or on purpose. Jack used to joke that his knife got used too much for first aid that they were all blood brothers in a way – just without the spit._

_Reaching out, Daniel grabbed Teal'c's robe, slicing off a small strip of linen. He then brushed his fingers through Sam's tangled and matted hair, choosing and cutting off a lock. Wrapping the hair in the linen, he slid his knife back into its sheath and picked up_

_Jack's bracelet, wrapping the leather thong around both items, creating a small bundle._

_Grasping it tightly in his left hand, Daniel closed his eyes, letting his tears fall as he conjured up memories of his friends._

_Sam's wide grin._

_Jack's good natured annoyance._

_Teal'c's Jaffa jokes._

_That was how he would remember them. He would remember their spirit, their joy and amazement. Not the broken shells laid out before him._

_Opening his eyes, he got to his feet, his hand once again slipping into his robes. He pulled out his zat and readied it, firing three times in quick succession._

_Their bodies shimmered out of existence and Daniel grieved, not caring that K'htep was witness._

_"The Jaffa did not get their possessions," K'htep said softly. "Tamir is keeping all safe for your return."_

_Daniel nodded, not really giving a damn about what few personal trinkets they had. He didn't want trinkets; he wanted his friends – his family – back._

_"The rebellion is not dead," K'htep continued. "Many were moved by the deaths of your friends." Daniel nodded again, not giving a damn about the rebellion. If it wasn't for that, they wouldn't even be here. They'd have taken the ship and left and none of this would have happened._

_"It must not die with them," K'htep said. He grabbed Daniel's sleeve. "I swore upon my brother's grave that I would kill Ra—"_

_"We can't kill him," Daniel interrupted._

_"Daniel—"_

_"But we can make him leave," Daniel declared. K'htep frowned. "Jack, Sam and Teal'c died trying to fix the future. We're going to make sure things happen the way they're supposed to," he said, surprised to discover that they weren't just words._

_The rebellion WOULD happen. Daniel would make it happen – if it was the last thing he ever did._

_*flashback*_

Lost in his memories, Daniel sank to the floor, his eyes fixed unseeing on the far wall.

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

Sam crested the dune, sighing as she caught sight of the village. Finally. She was starting to think that they'd parked the gate ship in Cape Town – or where Cape Town would be in a few thousand years.

 

The sun was just starting to set and the smoke from the cooking fires hung in the air like a thin fog. The smell of roasting meat hit her nostrils and her stomach grumbled – loudly.

"Sorry," she apologized as Jack glanced over at her.

 

"You know one thing I miss?"

 

"What?"

 

"Take out." He grinned. "More specifically, pizza."

 

"Chocolate," she answered.

 

"Beer."

 

"Diet coke."

 

"Cold beer," he clarified.

 

"Ice water," she drawled.

 

"Ice cream."

 

"Writing."

 

"What?" he stopped, frowning at her odd choice.

 

She shook her head, regretting that she'd gotten caught up in the game. "Nothing."

 

"You said writing."

 

"I aah, well I used to like to write," she confessed.

 

"Really?"

 

"Nothing that good or anything," she said.

 

"What did you write?"

 

"Just stories."

 

"What kind of stories," he pressed.

 

"You know, just stories." She shrugged. No one on Earth knew about her hobby and that was just the way she liked it. If no one knew, then no one could make fun of it.

 

"Well, why can't you keep writing here?" he asked.

 

"I just can't."

 

"Why not?"

 

"First of all, there's no paper."

 

"Daniel's got papyrus."

 

"Which is expensive. So is the ink," she said.

 

"I’m sure we can find a way—"

 

"Then there's the fact that we can't risk a piece of papyrus surviving," she continued. "Imagine the damage it could cause to the timeline if people in the future find papyrus writing in English, thousands of years before the language even exists."

 

"Then—we'll burn them. Destroy it so that they can't find it," he suggested.

 

"Which makes the whole thing a complete and total waste," she said. She shrugged. "It was just a hobby anyway. It's not big deal," she dismissed.

 

In a way, it wasn't that big of a deal. Her writing was just something she did at home each evening, a way to pass the time.

 

But, in another, her stories were important to her and she missed them. She missed the escape. She still thought up her stories and she hated that her mind was the only place where they'd ever exist.

 

"We'll come up with something," he said. "Maybe there's something in the ship that we can use and—"

 

"O'Neill!" They turned, Jack tensing then relaxing as he recognized K'htep running towards them. "Doctor Carter. Did you see?"

 

"K'htep, what's wrong?" Jack asked, stepping forward.

 

"The Stargate. It was magical. It vanished today, floated off into the air as though the gods themselves took it." He raised his hands, mimicking the Stargate flying. Jack grinned, rolling his eyes at Sam's 'hush' look.

 

"Ya don't say," he said.

 

"Have you heard from Teal'c or Daniel?" Sam asked, curious as to whether or not the other part of their plan had worked as well as the theft of the gate. Having the natives think that the 'real' gods had taken it was perfect and would do wonders at discrediting Ra and Heh.

 

"I have not. It has been many hours since they entered the temple."

 

Sam looked to Jack. "Do you think something went wrong?"

 

"Do you doubt that something went wrong?" he asked back. "Something always goes wrong."

 

"What can we do?"

 

"I have not heard of them being captured," K'htep said.

 

"They might not be," Sam said. "Maybe they just…got delayed."

 

Jack shook his head. "Do you still have contacts inside?" he asked K'htep.

 

"Yes, my cousin. She cooks for the Jaffa."

 

"Can she get us in?"

 

"Yes."

 

Jack looked to Sam. "We have to," she said, agreeing to his silent question.

 

He nodded. "K'htep. Get us in."

 

K'htep motioned for them to follow him and he turned on his heel, leading them back towards the temple. "What if they've been captured?" Sam asked, keeping her voice low.

 

"Then we'll free them."

 

"Jack, it might not be that easy."

 

"Then we'll make it that easy," he insisted. "We're not leaving them behind."

 

"I'm not saying that we should but….Jack, this is breaking into a Goa’uld ship and, probably, a Goa’uld dungeon. We've never done that before."

 

"Yeah, well we'd never traveled back in time before either, and that all worked out."

 

"Jack—"

 

"Sam, you don't have to come," he offered.

 

Sam stared, hoping that she was accurate in thinking that she saw no censure in his eyes. Did he think that she was a coward? Or weak? "Jack—"

 

"I mean it. If you don't want to come, that's fine. I'd rather have you not be there than be afraid."

 

Sam shook her head. "No, I'm fine," she said, taking a deep breath. "I can do this."

 

"You sure?"

 

"I'm sure. Let's go."

 

Jack stared at her for a few minutes, the nodded. "Ok." He looked up at K'htep. "Let's go," he repeated.

 

The three of them continued their trek, K'htep taking the precaution of skirting the village, a precaution that meant that their ten-minute walk lasted closer to twenty. "What do we do once we're in there?" Sam asked. Jack turned and looked at her. "Hey, I've never raided a Goa’uld ship before. I'd like to know what I'm supposed to do so that I don't mess it up."

 

"My cousin will know if they have been captured," K'htep said. "And she will know where they are being kept."

 

"How will she know that?" Jack asked.

 

"They do feed their prisoners. And she has friends among the Jaffa."

 

Jack nodded. "Makes sense."

 

After several minutes they approached the base of the pyramid ship. Daniel called them Ha’tak ships and said that the Goa’uld had thousands of them, a fact that bugged Sam a bit. Thousands? How could their future counterparts ever dream of defeating an enemy that had thousands of these huge ships?

 

The ship was perched on one of the pyramids, something Daniel said that they did to protect the ships both from accidentally parking on unstable sand and also from being buried by a sand storm. As massive as the ship was, Sam knew that it was still subject to the constantly blowing sand. All it would take is one large sandstorm and the ship could be trapped, the sand too heavy even for the Ha’tak's massive engines.

 

K'htep led them to one of three large openings in the bottom of the ship. Ships this big had to be manned by hundreds of Jaffa, and just like the sailors that would come into port when Sam was working in Virginia, there was no way that the Jaffa would miss the amenities that every sailor in port wanted, fresh food, fresh air and prostitutes.

 

"The kitchens are this way," K'htep said, ushering them forth.

 

A short flight of steps was carved into each side of the pyramid, leading up to a large hatch that opened from the bottom of the ship. Even though the hatches were open and the stairs wide, Sam could see that it would be easily defended in case of attack. And that they would have to ascend the stairs and be totally vulnerable as they entered the ship. It was just like in this one movie she'd watched. The bad guys had just waited up there and picked off the invaders one by one. That wouldn't be a good thing to happen to them.

 

"So, do we just walk in or—" Jack grabbed Sam's arm, hushing her and pulling her to the side as K'htep followed. "W—" Jack's hand clamped over her mouth, silencing her protest.

 

He held the forefinger of his other hand over his lips, telling her to be silent. She nodded and he released her mouth. She followed his pointing hand and turned to watch a figure descending the steps, another figure slung over his shoulder. "Someone's having a party," Jack whispered in her ear.

 

Sam ignored him, studying the figure. Something about his stride looked familiar. "It's Teal'c," she said, tugging at Jack's sleeve.

 

"What?"

 

"It's Teal'c," she insisted, pushing Jack away. She got to her feet and moved forward, ignoring K'htep and Jack's efforts to restrain her. Teal'c got to the bottom of the steps and Sam stared, realizing that the person he carried was unconscious. "Oh my god, is Daniel all right?' she asked, thinking of the only person Teal'c could be liberating from a Ha’tak.

 

"Doctor Carter." Teal'c nodded, shifting the figure.

 

"Teal'c. You ok?" Jack hurried forth, K'htep following him.

 

"I am well and this is not Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said, lowering the figure to the ground.

He landed on his back, what looked to be fine-jeweled robes landing helter skelter around him. At least Sam thought it was a he. The man had a definitely effeminate face, the image only made worse by the fact that his eyes were circled with dark lines of kohl. Ornate earrings hung from his ears and various bits of golden jewelry decorated his body.

 

"Who the hell—"

 

"Ra," K'htep breathed, sinking to his knees.

 

"What?" Jack demanded.

 

"This is Ra?" Sam asked, raising her eye brows. This was a Goa’uld? An alien race that subjugated millions of people? She'd seen tougher looking figures in the cafeteria at MIT.

 

"Indeed," Teal'c said. "Daniel Jackson and I were captured. We were separated and I was taken to the dungeons. One of Ra's loyal Jaffa freed me upon the condition that I would also liberate Ra."

 

"Where are the villagers?" K'htep asked.

 

"They have already been liberated. I returned to retrieve Ra."

 

Jack frowned, and then shrugged. "Cool."

 

"But what about Daniel?" Sam asked, watching curiously as K'htep reached out one tentative hand to touch his 'god'.

 

"Heh instructed that Daniel Jackson be taken to his quarters. I have not seen him since," Teal'c said.

 

"Crap," Jack cursed, running his fingers through his hair. "Ok, we gotta go get him."

 

"I concur."

 

"What do we do with him?" Sam asked, pointing at Ra, who was still unconscious in the dirt.

 

"Um, K'htep—"

 

"Thinks he's a god," Sam said.

 

"Once the people of the village see their 'god' so humbled, I do not think that they will follow him," K'htep said, getting to his feet.

 

"Yeah, they might kill him," Sam said. Jack gave her a look. "He's enslaved all these people for years. I bet he's not very popular."

 

"He will not be harmed," K'htep promised. "Daniel Jackson once told me that Ra must live. And I promised him that I would not kill Ra." K'htep bent over and pulled a rousing Ra to his feet. "I did not promise not to humiliate him."

 

Jack shrugged, tossing his hands into the air. "Teal'c, tie him up, make sure he can't escape." He turned to K'htep. "You keep him somewhere quiet, OUT OF SIGHT," Jack ordered. "We get Daniel back; we'll help you with your show and tell."

 

"I promise on the memory of my brother that he will not come to harm," K'htep protested.

 

"It is not likely that everyone will show your restraint," Teal'c said. "Should Ra die, then our mission here will be a failure. And the previous incarnation of SG-1 will have died in vain."

 

K'htep looked at all three of them, his gaze rebellious and Sam thought for a moment that he would defy them. Finally, he slumped, sighing softly. "I shall do as you wish," he said. "I shall hide him, for the time being."

 

As Sam watched, Teal'c stepped forward, drawing a heavy rope from a nearby tent. He bound the Goa’uld's hands tightly and Sam winced as the hemp cut into his flesh. "He will try to deceive you," Teal'c warned. "He will pretend to be the host to convince you to free him. If you do so, he will kill you."

 

"I understand," K'htep said. "I have witnessed the duplicity of Ra. He shall not make a fool out of me." He dragged Ra away and Sam watched, sincerely hoping that they weren't making a mistake.

 

"So help me god, if he screws up and I end up meeting another whacked out version of myself, I will kill him with my bare hands," Jack promised.

 

"I'll help," Sam muttered. "What?" she asked, responding to the look on Jack's face.

 

He shook his head. "Nothing. Let's go get Daniel."

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

 

Jack followed Teal'c through the ornate halls of the Ha’tak, alternately amazed at the size of the ship, and frustrated with it. Daniel was in here somewhere. If what Teal'c said was right, he'd been Heh's 'guest' for the past few hours. Which meant that there was a very good chance that he was dead – or worse.

 

Jack didn't have a lot of experience with these Goa’uld, but he sure as hell wasn't fond of leaving someone behind to be a prisoner. Especially after the man had been through so much. Daniel never really talked about the 'other' them, the friends he'd traveled with, and the friends he'd lost.

 

But K'htep had. He'd spoken about how close they'd been, even despite all their differences. And about how much Daniel had grieved, even after a few years, he still blamed himself for their deaths.

 

Didn't change the fact that sometimes he was a bit of an ass – but hey, so was Jack if the mood struck him.

 

Jack picked up the pace, grabbing Teal'c's arm and pulling him behind a false wall. "How much further?" he whispered, relieved to note that Sam had followed suit and was nervously glancing behind them. She was learning. She'd never be a soldier but at least she tried.

 

"It is likely that Heh has taken Ra's quarters. The master suite is located near the peltak."

 

"How close are we to this peltak?"

 

"One level up," Teal'c replied.

 

"See, that's all you had to say" Jack stepped back, motioning for Teal'c to continue. They slowly walked down the hall, Jack moving to cover their six while Sam slipped into the middle. They made their way up one level, Teal'c motioning for them to slow just down the hall from a pair of ornate doors.

 

There were no guards outside and Jack looked to Teal'c, silently seeking an answer to why Heh's quarters would be unguarded. Teal'c shook his head, obviously not knowing. Jack shrugged, stepping forward, ready to just walk in. Sam grabbed his arm, pointing at Teal'c who was walking down a side corridor. "What?" he mouthed.

 

She shrugged, shaking her head. Yeah, he and Teal'c were going to have a little talk when this was over. Jack sighed, motioning for Sam to follow Teal'c. The Jaffa led them down a small dark corridor. It turned and Jack realized that it was leading them back towards Heh's quarters, presumably some sort of back or secret entrance.

 

Teal'c stopped, standing beside a wall. "The entrance is here," he said softly. "These entrances exist to permit slaves to enter and exit unnoticed."

 

Jack nodded. "Teal'c and I will go in," he said. "You stay here," he told Sam, bracing himself for her protest.

 

"Jack—"

 

"If we don't come back, you get back to K'htep and keep Ra alive. That's more important than we are."

 

She sighed, nodding her head. "Ok."

 

Jack looked to Teal'c and took a deep breath, nodding for him to open the door. Teal'c pressed a series of glyphs and there was a small pop as the lock opened. He pushed the door open, stepping forward, carefully to keep his footsteps as silent as possible.

 

The room was dark and quiet, too quiet, to play into a cliché.

 

Teal'c stepped to the side, falling into a flanking stance. Jack moved forward, his stomach twisting as he caught sight of a crumpled figure on the floor. He signaled to Teal'c, belatedly realizing that he was speaking a language the Jaffa didn't understand.

 

Fortunately, Teal'c seemed to understand, ignoring the body on the floor and quickly checking the rest of the room. Jack stood over the corpse, a small sound revealing another figure on the floor under a table. Teal'c returned and both of them crossed over to the table, Teal'c standing guard as Jack knelt beside Daniel.

 

The man was kneeling on the floor, his legs folded under him. His shoulders were slumped and he was staring down to his lap. Jack got closer and he could see a smear of blood on Daniel's palm. "Daniel?" Jack knelt beside him, reaching out to touch the man's shoulder. "You ok?" Daniel ignored him, his eyes still fixated on his hands. "Hey!" He shook Daniel harder. "Snap out of it."

 

Daniel finally looked up, frowning as he blinked, trying to clear his vision. "Jack?" he muttered.

 

"Yeah. You ok?" Jack studied him, searching for some injury. The man was pale and his pupils were dilated, indicating that he was in shock.

 

Daniel slowly nodded. "I shot him," he said, his voice flat.

 

"Considering that he's a murderer, I'd say that's a good thing," Jack said, glancing over Daniel's shoulder to the corpse of Heh. A good sized chunk of the man's head was gone and it looked like he'd been dead for a couple of hours at least. "We need to get out of here," Jack said.

 

"Right." Daniel started to get to his feet. Jack stood up, holding out his hand to help him. "Wait, Ra—"

 

"Ra is in the village," Teal'c said.

 

"What?"

 

"Teal'c found Ra and got him out. K'htep is watching him," Jack said.

 

"K'htep promised to kill him," Daniel said.

 

"Which is why we have to get out of here," Jack said. "You good?"

 

Daniel nodded and Jack ushered him forward, Teal'c following. "Daniel?" Sam said as they reached the door. She reached out, her arm dropping as she remembered that Daniel didn't like to be touched. "Are you all right?"

 

"I'm ok," he said, forcing a small smile on his face. He looked at all three of them, the expression on his face making Jack frown. "I’m gonna be ok," he muttered. He took a deep breath. "Let's go before K'htep does a little Jaffa revenge thing."

 

He started down the hall and Jack looked to Teal'c, shrugging to show that he didn’t understand the reference either. Sam hurried after Daniel, Jack and Teal'c falling into step behind them.

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

Daniel followed Teal'c and Sam outside, not fully relaxing until he was several yards away from the stairway. He took a deep breath, belatedly realizing just how tense he'd been the past several hours.

 

He was surprised to find that it was fully dark and late evening, and if this were a normal night, the streets would be quiet. The people of the village worked long, hard hours during the day and it wasn't uncommon for the whole village to be asleep around the 'normal' hours of ten pm or so. There were a few parts of the village that had a nightlife, mostly close to the brothel, but as a whole, they pulled in their sidewalks at sunset, as Jack used to say.

 

But tonight was different. Voices carried over the tents and the very air was unsettled, almost like it was just before a dust storm.

 

They made their way around one of the larger tents and Daniel paused, stumbling a bit as the world started to waver. "Daniel?" Sam grabbed his arm, steadying him.

 

Daniel felt Teal'c and Jack move closer and he closed his eyes, indulging himself in the fantasy that these were the 'real' people and that, for the first time in years, he wasn't alone. He heard Sam saying something to Jack and felt the man's hands on his shoulders, guiding him to sit down.

 

Daniel sank down to the ground, resting his head on his bent knees as the events of the past few hours hit home. Heh was dead. And so was his host. Daniel had just blown his own brains out. And he was here to tell about it.

 

A small hand reached for and grabbed his wrist. "I think his pulse is a little fast," he heard Sam say.

 

"He didn't look like he was in bad shape."

 

"Goa’uld have methods of torture that do not leave physical marks," Teal'c said.

 

"Maybe we should go find that woman," Sam said, her hand leaving his wrist and exploring his forehead, testing for fever. "The one Daniel said was a healer—"

 

Daniel shook his head, reaching up to pull her hand away. "I don't need a healer," he muttered, giving her a small smile before he released her wrist. "I just need a minute."

 

She nodded, leaning back on her heels. "Oh." She reached behind her and grabbed her canteen, shoving it towards him. "Want something to drink?"

 

He took it, unscrewing the lid and taking a swig of the tepid water. "Please tell me you managed to steal the gate," he said, not quite sure what he'd do if they said no.

 

Sam grinned. "We did, it was cool."

 

Daniel stared at her, for the first time not annoyed by her gawkish enthusiasm. He could see a lot of his Sam in her, parts that she hid from them, parts that she’d been trained to hide and downplay.

 

This was a Sam he'd only glimpsed a couple of times, blowing up crystals in the gate room or fidgety eager to risk her life on a spaceship race. This Sam was more open than his. She showed her emotions more readily. She grinned more and frowned more. She didn't just wear her heart on her sleeve; she had it tattooed on her forehead.

 

It was almost like he was seeing his Sam as a young girl, a glimpse into her before years of military service had left her cynical and jaded. This Sam didn't have a chip on her shoulder but seemed a lot more vulnerable than his friend ever had been.

 

She would never be the woman he'd known, and for the first time, he didn't mind.

 

"It's about ten miles outside of town," Jack said, moving from behind Daniel to stand in front of him. "We parked the gate ship on top of it, so even if they happen to find it, they won't be able to do much."

 

This Jack was different too and it had taken Daniel a long time to figure out why. There were no Tok'ra in their reality, and no Kanans. Daniel had never realized how much of a blemish Kanan had left upon Jack's soul until he'd gotten a glimpse into what his friend would be like without that chunk of pain and horror in his memories.

 

This Jack was more open even if he seemed to be a little bit less skilled than the original.

That was probably why he and Sam got along so well. In a way, it was refreshing. He'd spent so much time watching his Sam and Jack tap dance around each other that it often got on Daniel's nerves. These two had no qualms about showing that they cared for each other.

 

Of course, that was also what annoyed Daniel so much. It wasn't fair that these two seemed destined to end up with each other in every reality he'd ever seen while Daniel himself seemed to always end up alone — or dead.

 

Why the hell couldn't he ever catch a break?

 

"It will not take the Jaffa long to discover Heh's demise," Teal'c said.

 

"And that Ra's missing," Sam said. The three of them looked at her. "Well, I mean, if Heh's dead, then the Jaffa loyal to Ra will go to get him from the dungeon and when they find that he's gone..."

 

Jack groaned. "This could go to hell in a handbasket real fast. The natives are already way too restless. It wouldn't take much for them to try and raid the Ha’tak."

 

"We must return Ra to his ship," Teal'c said.

 

"You good?" Jack asked, frowning at Daniel.

 

"Yeah," he said, levering himself to his feet. "Where did K'htep take Ra?"

 

Jack shook his head. "We didn't have time to ask. He just said he'd keep him somewhere safe."

 

Daniel tried to think. Once the villagers knew who Ra was and that he was among them, without his bodyguards, his life wouldn't be worth much. There were decades of terror and pain to repay, and these people still very much subscribed to the 'eye for an eye' adage.

 

But K'htep knew this. He knew that he needed to, no, HAD to keep Ra alive. "I know," Daniel said, praying that his guess was right. Daniel hurried forward, Jack, Sam and Teal'c trailing in his wake.  There was only one place in the village that was totally safe. Only one cavern that no one else knew about.

 

Its very existence was a risk, a deliberate flouting of Sam's rules and a literal time bomb. But Daniel just couldn't give it up, not yet. He led them to the far side of the village, where Alisa and her girls plied their wares.

 

They occupied one of the few buildings in the village, its mud and daub exterior hiding a relatively luxurious interior. "Aah, Daniel," Jack started, moving to his side. "This probably isn't the best time to—"

 

"Trust me," Daniel said. He opened the front door and walked in. It was a slow night; three of the four girls were seated around a brazier, all lounging in a seductive manner. At their entrance, they got to their feet, their faces falling when they realized that Daniel was not bringing them customers. "Kara, Salome, Shalini, is Alisa busy?"

 

"No," Kara said, pulling a thin robe around her. "She is with K'htep."

 

Daniel nodded, expecting the answer. "And Ester?"

 

"She is with a man from the village. No Jaffa are here this night."

 

"Good. We're not here either," he said.

 

"I understand."

 

Daniel led his companions down a narrow corridor leading to the back of the room. One of the tiny rooms lining the corridor was closed off, a length of cloth serving as a door. The unmistakable sounds of sex filtered out into the hall and, despite himself, Daniel felt his face color. You would think, as often as he'd been here, that he'd be well used to the girls' way of making a living.

 

He led them into the last room in the hall. It was small, barely seven by seven feet. Of course, it didn't need to be big. Just large enough for a pallet set on a pedestal with a small stool in the corner for the client to set his clothes on. "Daniel?" Jack asked.

 

"You've heard of hiding in plain sight," he said, reaching down and lifting up the edge of the pallet, revealing a narrow passageway and ladder. "Ra's Jaffa have looked for this place for years. His First Prime is one of Alisa's regulars, and they've never figured it out."

 

They followed him down the ladder and into a decent sized subterranean room. Like many of his other hiding places, this one was lit with torches set into rings in the wall. The floor was hard packed dirt and the walls were stone. Three small niches were carved into the stone, but this sanctuary didn't hold weapons like the others. It contained something far more precious.

 

Teal'c's empty bottle of tretonin sat along side his watch and knife. In the second niche, Sam's dog tags were wrapped around an empty candy bar wrapper and a small pile of items from her pocket, including change and a tube of chapstick.

 

Daniel pulled the pistol from the small of his back and cleared the chamber, setting it in the third niche beside Jack's ball cap and dog tags.

 

"You know this stuff is dangerous," Jack said softly, his tone one of empathy.

 

"I have one last thing of Sam's," Daniel said, pointing out two blocks of C4 set into the wall. "One of these days, I'll blow it. And even if I don't, this building gets destroyed in an earth quake in about a hundred years." He refused to explain himself further. He knew that he should have already destroyed these things. He knew that he was flirting with the future to keep them around. But he just couldn't. He couldn't let them go yet.

 

"Daniel." Alisa hurried towards him, appearing from around a corner at the other end of the cavern. She threw herself into his arms. "K'htep said that you were captured."

 

"I was, but I'm fine," Daniel answered, returning her embrace. His hands easily found her warm flesh through the thin, revealing robe she wore. She was a beautiful woman, the light in her eyes reminding him of Shau'ri. Her hair was long and straight and it spilled down her back. "Is K'htep in back?" he asked, knowing that they did not have the time for a proper greeting.

 

"Yes, with his guest. Is it true? Is that really Ra?" Her kohl-encircled eyes were wide. Even though she was well known among the Jaffa, Ra never indulged himself in whores.

On the few occasions that he did, they were brought to him. And few that entered the Ha’tak ever left. Which was why, when Ra wanted a woman, the Jaffa tended to take one from the village instead of from Alisa. Ra's Jaffa were practical men and, obviously, saw no need to endanger their own pleasures for their god.

 

"That's Ra," Daniel confirmed.

 

"He looks so..."

 

"Human," Jack said.

 

"Most Goa’uld look human," Teal'c said.

 

"Goa’uld?"

 

"That's what Ra is," Sam answered Alisa. "He's a creature inside the human host that you see. They're called Goa’uld."

 

Alisa nodded, frowning furiously. "I still do not understand."

 

Daniel kissed her on her forehead. "You don't have to." He gently pushed her away. "Why don't you go on up. We'll be just a few minutes."

 

She nodded and squeezed his arm before making her way to the ladder. Daniel watched her go, taking a second to appreciate the view before turning back to the rest. "Might as well get this over with."

 

He led them around the corner and into a small room. It was about the same size as the room above, but lacked a bed on a shelf; instead it had a simple straw stuffed pallet on the stone floor. K'htep stood in one corner while Ra sat on the floor. The Goa’uld's once fine robes hung in tattered disarray, revealing a skinny body. His long dark hair was tangled and hung loosely around his face instead of in the intricate braids Daniel remembered.

 

His body was still young, in fact it almost looked younger and more boy-like that in Daniel's memories. At their entrance, Ra looked up, his eyes flaring in anger before turning to amazement. "You are dead."

 

Daniel frowned, then realized what Ra was talking about. "No, they're not," he said, hoping that the others would follow his lead as he motioned for K'htep to remain silent.

 

Ra shook his head. "I killed them myself." He struggled to his feet, hampered by his bound hands. "The shol’vah and the male, they refused to give me satisfaction. But her, she screamed so nicely when my Jaffa ended her life."

 

Ra stepped towards Sam, trying to intimidate her. Daniel's heart lurched, afraid that she'd lose it and reveal their secret. "What I really wanted to do was this," Sam said, landing an awkward punch on Ra's chin. "Ow," Sam whined as Ra fell backwards, tripping on his robes. "It looks easier on TV," she complained, shaking her sore hand.

 

Jack chuckled and Daniel swore he saw Teal'c crack a grin before his dark face again settled into an impassive mask. "You failed," Daniel said, moving to stand over Ra. "You can't kill them because they are the beloved of Anubis and cannot die."

 

Ra shook his head. "Anubis is no more."

 

"That is what he wants you to think. But he now rules this planet and he has no patience for weaklings like you."

 

"I am your god!" Ra insisted, glaring at Daniel.

 

"You are nothing but a scared little boy," Daniel said, dragging Ra to his feet. "Who hides in the body of a man."

 

"My Jaffa shall kill you for this," Ra threatened.

 

"Your Jaffa don't even know that you're gone," Daniel said. "Chances are your First Prime is rallying the troops to save his own ass."

 

"My people are loyal to me—"

 

"You're people are revolting in the streets," Jack interrupted. "Face it; you've officially worn out your welcome."

 

Ra shook his head. "No, I—"

 

"Anubis is coming," Sam said. "And the Stargate is gone. If you can't get back to your ship, you're going to be stuck here when he comes."

 

"The Stargate is mine to control," Ra insisted.

 

"I got a news flash for you, it's gone," Jack said.

 

"O'Neill, I believe that we should prove our claim to Ra," Teal'c said.

 

"That is an excellent idea," Jack said, stepping forward and grabbing Ra's arm. "How about at little show and tell?"

 

Jack dragged him towards the ladder, Teal'c following. "Daniel?" K'htep asked, puzzled.

 

"Go get some of your people," Daniel instructed, an idea coming to him. "Ones you can control. Bring them to the Stargate."

 

K'htep nodded, waiting for Jack and Teal'c to clear the ladder before scrambling up.

"What are you going to do?" Sam asked.

 

Daniel looked up then back at her. "We won't quite tar and feather him, but it'll be close. We need Ra too humiliated and afraid to stay." Sam nodded and Daniel hoped that she knew what he was getting at. This was definitely not going to be pretty.

 

He climbed up, glad to see that Jack or Teal'c had torn off a bit of Ra's robes, turning it into a makeshift blindfold. Just in case this didn't work, he didn't want Ra's wrath to come down on Alisa and her girls.

 

As Daniel watched, Teal'c drew a knife, using it t slice Ra's robes from him, leaving the Goa’uld in nothing but a brief loincloth. "It would not be nice if he tripped," Teal'c said and Daniel saw a glimmer of the evil sense of humor he'd known in his friend.

 

They dragged Ra out of the back room the girls giggling as he passed them. "I am your god!" he ranted, struggling ineffectually.

 

"You are not much of one," Kara said, lowering her gaze pointedly, an act that only made the girls laugh harder.

 

They dragged Ra out into the streets, the girls following. Daniel knew that many of them had suffered at the hands of the Jaffa, the alien warriors often feeling the need to take what they wanted, sometimes brutally. More than once, Daniel's limited medical skills had been put to use repairing the damage.

 

Shalini dashed forward, bending down to pick up some camel dung, throwing it at Ra, who continued to protest. His outcries were drawing a crowd, more and more people emerging from their tent, openly curious.

 

Daniel knew that most of them would not recognize Ra. As a Goa’uld, he was rarely seen without his fine robes and golden mask. And most of the villagers would simply enjoy tormenting the crazy man. But Ra wouldn't know that. All he would know was that his beloved people had turned against him. Daniel just hoped that it would be enough.

 

"I hope you know what you're doing," Jack said, dropping back to join Daniel as Teal'c led Ra through the center of the village. "A mob can be a dangerous thing."

 

"I know," Daniel said, keeping his eyes on Ra and Teal'c.

 

"What are you going to do if this just pisses him off more and he doesn't leave?"

 

"He'll leave," Daniel said.

 

"Sure about that, are you?"

 

"Would you want to stay?"

 

"I wouldn't," Sam piped in.

 

They arrived at the center of the village, K'htep's people were already there, gathered in a crude circle around the empty dais. Teal'c climbed the steps, dragging a stumbling Ra after him. He whipped the blindfold off and pushed Ra, forcing him to fall to his knees. "This hataka claims to be Ra!" Teal'c said loudly, his voice carrying to the very edges of the clearing.

 

"That is no god!" K'htep shouted in his native tongue.

 

"Looks more like a goat herder to me," one of his men chimed in.

 

"Or a dung collector."

 

"I am your god!" Ra shouted, struggling to his feet. "Bow before me!"

 

"The people of his planet shall no longer bow to false gods," Teal'c said loudly.

 

The crowd started to yell louder, their heckling growing in intensity. "Oh boy," Daniel muttered, looking over his shoulder. The crowd was growing; almost every member of the village joined them. This could get very bad, very quickly.

 

"If you're a god," he shouted, stepping forward. "Then tell me, where is the chaappai?"

Ra's eyes grew wide and he turned, staring in amazement at the empty dais. Daniel continued moving forward, leaving the group and climbing the steps to the dais. "Where is it?" he demanded. "If you're really a god, then you should know, shouldn't you?"

 

Ra continued to stare, his head shaking slightly. Daniel stalked towards him, finally close enough to stand within reach of the shaking creature. "But you don't know, do you? You have no idea what's going on because you are nothing but a parasite." Ra's eyes flared in anger and Daniel reached out, wrapping his hand around Ra's neck. "The chaappai is gone because you are no longer welcome here. You will leave and you shall never come back." Daniel glanced over his shoulder, drawing Ra's attention to Jack and Sam. "If you ever set foot on this planet again, I shall have Anubis resurrect every soul you have killed and they shall torment you for all eternity."

 

"Anubis is a myth," Ra whispered.

 

"Anubis is real. I have seen him and I have learned much from him. Would you like to know HOW much?" Daniel tightened his grip, enjoying the gasping sounds that came from Ra's throat. His pulse lurched feebly under Daniel's fingertips and, for a few seconds, he seriously considered finishing the job. Ra deserved no less. He was a murderer. He killed them. Tortured them. Them and thousands more.

 

"Daniel Jackson." Teal'c's large hand settled on Daniel's arm. "Your friends sacrificed their lives for the future. They would not wish you to invalidate that sacrifice for simple revenge."

 

Daniel ignored him, staring Ra in the eyes, reveling in the panic and fear he saw there. For another ten seconds.

 

He released his grip and Ra fell, again landing in a heap on the dais. He coughed harshly, his bound hands coming up towards his throat. "GO AWAY!" Daniel shouted, translating the words into the native tongue of the villagers.

 

"GO AWAY!" K'htep shouted.

 

"GO AWAY!" the crowd started, the chorus rising in volume as more and more joined in.

 

Ra stared at the crowds, seeming to cower and melt before Daniel's eyes as the true gravity of his situation sank in. Teal'c reached out and grabbed Ra's arm, pulling him to his feet. "If you do not wish to die, I would suggest you remove yourself from this planet. Now!" He gave Ra a shove, sending him tumbling down the dais steps.

 

The crowd continued to chant, moving to surround Ra, but keeping their distance. The Goa’uld got to his feet, giving the people one last look, before he stumbled forward, heading towards the stairs leading to the Ha’tak.

 

Daniel remained on the dais, following the Goa’uld's progress until he reached the stairs. His Jaffa were there, obviously awaiting their god's orders to attack. Daniel tensed, half expecting a massacre. Instead, Ra said something and the Jaffa parted, allowing him to ascend the stone steps into the ship.

 

Jack and Sam joined Daniel and Teal'c, the four of them standing side by side as the ship's engines fired, the dull roar making the very sand shake and quiver. The Ha’tak clumsily disconnected itself from the pyramid and gained in altitude, quickly becoming nothing more than a tiny speck of light in the dark night sky.

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

 

Teal'c sat on the back of the animal, unable to deny the relief he felt as he caught sight of the gate ship just  on the other side of the dune. He was just beginning to believe that O'Neill had made an error and that they were traveling in the incorrect direction.

 

If that had been true, Teal'c believed that he would be tempted to inflict great bodily harm upon the human. And the creature upon which he rode.

 

"See, I told ya," O'Neill said, raising his voice as he turned back to glance at them. "I knew exactly where it was."

 

Teal'c raised his eyebrows, looking behind him. Perhaps O'Neill was right and he did indeed remember where he had left the gate ship. Or perhaps he was perpetrating another example of human humor.

 

Teal'c's animal drew along side the others and he gratefully dismounted, schooling his face to avoid revealing his discomfort. It was not important, it would heal. "We may have to rig something to get that gate back up on its side so we can move it back," O'Neill said.

 

"Maybe some kind of fulcrum," Carter said. "It's awful heavy but I think that we can—"

 

"You don't have to," Daniel Jackson interrupted her.

 

"What?"

 

Daniel Jackson turned a slow circle, studying the horizon. "I don't know how in the hell you did it." He shook his head slightly, walking slowly up to the Stargate.

 

"We told you. We flew the ship through the gate and—"

 

"Not that," Daniel interrupted Carter, his voice short. Seeing her face fall and her take a step back, he stopped, raising his hand. "Sorry. We don't need to move it," he said, his voice calmer.

 

"We don't?"

 

"But the tape said this thing was found in Giza," O'Neill said.

 

"We are in Giza."

 

"We are?"

 

Daniel Jackson nodded. "Or what will be Giza in a few thousand years." He pointed off to the right. "I recognize those rocks from one of Catherine's pictures."

 

O'Neill clapped his hands once. "Sweet. Now what?"

 

"Now, you need to move that ship," Daniel Jackson said.

 

"Why?"

 

"When the Stargate was found, it was buried under a cover stone," Jackson explained.

 

"Which now needs to be made," Teal'c said.

 

"Right." Daniel Jackson turned, frowning at the gate ship. "And we definitely didn't find it under a spacecraft."

 

"Yeah, about that," O'Neill said.

 

"What?"

 

"Where can we park that puppy?"

 

"If the gate ship wasn't found here in Egypt, we need to find somewhere to put it where it won't mess up the timeline," Doctor Carter said.

 

Daniel Jackson frowned. "You know, I don't know where you can put it," he said. "We've never found one of those ships here."

 

"Perhaps it would be best to remove the ship from Earth," Teal'c suggested.

 

"What?"

 

"Huh?"

 

"What do you mean, Teal'c?" O'Neill asked.

 

"If our ultimate goal is to preserve the timeline and the presence of this ship endangers that goal, then we should remove it," he said, surprised that they had not arrived at the same conclusion.

 

"He's right," Jackson said.

 

"He is?"

 

"Jack, I literally don't know of anywhere you can go with that ship where it might not be found."

 

"But the Stargate's lying down. We can't go through it that way," Carter said.

 

"Yes you can," Jackson said. "As long as the splash side is up, you'd just have to go vertical."

 

"What if it's down?" Carter asked.

 

"Then we use the ship to flip it over."

 

O'Neill stared at Jackson for a bit, frowning. "Ok," he finally said. "So, what do we have to do to get this cover stone made?"

 

"Actually," Jackson sighed. "Look, it's going to take years to carve them, literally. There's no need for you guys to stay here."

 

"What?"

 

"Well, of course we have to stay," Carter said. "We can't just leave you here all alone and—"

 

"Yes, you can," Jackson said. "I know what the carvings need to be. I memorized them years ago."

 

"Then we'll help and—"

 

"You don't have to," Jackson interrupted. "Look, somehow, it just feels right," he said.

 

"For us to go away and leave you here, alone," O'Neill said skeptically.

 

Jackson smiled. "I won't be alone." He looked down, reaching into his robe to pull out an odd bundle, a small piece of linen wrapped with a leather thong. "I buried you guys once before and…I can't do it again." His voice shook slightly and he swallowed, his hand tightening around the bundle. "I…it would mean a lot to me if I could know that you guys were out there, somewhere."

 

O'Neill looked to Doctor Carter and Teal'c knew that he was considering Daniel Jackson's offer. He knew that he was not doing it out of cowardice, but out of concern for the female. Life was not easy here and Earth was behind even Chulak in it's level of advancement. He knew that O'Neill feared for Doctor Carter and that she would fall victim to some disease or mishap.

 

"I shall stay," Teal'c said, aware that he had reached that decision days ago. He liked this planet and he enjoyed Daniel Jackson's company.

 

"Teal'c."

 

"Daniel Jackson, you shall require assistance in creating this cover stone."

 

"I've got a whole village full of assistants."

 

"Most of whom are illiterate and will also be preoccupied with recreating their civilization. Carving a cover stone will be of little import to them," Teal'c reasoned.

 

"If having a space ship on Earth endangers the future, having an alien has to be dangerous too," Carter said.

 

"Not necessarily," Teal'c said. "Daniel Jackson possesses a zatnikatel. When I die, he can use it to dispose of my body. There will be no remains left behind to alter the timeline."

 

"Daniel, we can't just leave you. You neither, Teal'c," Doctor Carter said.

 

Daniel Jackson smiled. "You're not. You're actually helping. With the time ship gone, I won't have to worry about something else going wrong."

 

O'Neill looked to Doctor Carter and Teal'c could see the expression on his face change and he knew that the human was going to follow Daniel Jackson's idea. This was good. The less of them here, the greater the chance that the timeline would repair itself and remain repaired.

 

"You're sure?" O'Neill asked.

 

Daniel Jackson nodded. "Yeah, I am. I even have a place where you can go."

 

"You do?" Doctor Carter asked.

 

"Yes. In my future, we found that ship on a planet. You guys can take it back. Consider it one last mission before you retire."

 

"I've retired before."

 

"And this time you're gonna make it."

 

"Daniel, I still—"

 

"Sam. I want you guys to go. Live somewhere where you have a future," he said.

 

"You're sure?"

 

"Yeah."

 

She nodded and Teal'c couldn't miss the relieved look on her face. It confirmed for him that Daniel Jackson was correct. They would not be happy here, in this time and in this place.

 

"Got a pen?" O'Neill pulled a pen and piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Daniel Jackson, who scrawled a series of glyphs on it. "Here's where we got the ship. Ares will eventually conquer it, but not for a few hundred years. Right now, it's agrarian, very friendly. It's a good place and they're good people."

 

"Ok." O'Neill handed the paper to Doctor Carter. "Teal'c, last chance."

 

Teal'c shook his head. "I shall remain here."

 

Carter stepped forward, surprising Jackson when she gave him a hug. "Thank you." She moved towards Teal'c and he allowed her to embrace him as well, noticing when Jackson took her moments of distraction to give O'Neill some small item.

 

The pair left them and walked towards the ship, quickly disappearing inside. As Teal'c watched, O'Neill fired up the engines and moved the ship off the Stargate before they dialed it from within the gate ship, the plume erupting into the sky.

 

The ship paused for a few seconds, then ascended before spinning and diving into the open Stargate, seeming to drive itself into the ground. The Stargate disengaged and left behind an unsettling silence. "You didn't have to stay," Jackson said. "Although, I'm sorta glad you did."

 

"I am shol’vah," Teal'c said. "If I were to leave, I would be hunted, even in the past." Jackson nodded. "I can think of no more worthy endeavor for my final years than to do all I can to preserve the future." Teal'c only hoped that he would be able to complete the cover stone before his prim’tah matured and he died. He was well aware that he would have to ask one final favor of Daniel Jackson when that time came.

 

"How long until he's ready to take a host?" he asked, telling Teal'c that he was well aware of the man's condition.

 

"I believe five of your years," Teal'c answered. In truth, there was no set length of time. Each prim’tah matured at its own rate, often affected by the Jaffa's health at the time. Teal'c would only know for certain when his symbiote became agitated, eager to leave its womb and to move onto the next stage of its life, possessing a host.

 

"Well then we better start work on that cover stone," Jackson said, reaching out to pat Teal'c's shoulder.

 

"Indeed."

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

Jack crested a small hill, turning and taking a moment to enjoy the view. The Stargate and their ship was down in the valley below and Sam was just joining him, her having been a bit slower in climbing than he was. "Why did we have to come up here?" she panted, blowing her bangs off her forehead.

 

"You want to get a good look at your new home, don't you?" he asked, enjoying the flush in her cheeks.

 

"I thought that was why we had a ship?" She rolled her eyes.

 

Jack frowned. Yeah, she had a point. An aerial survey would tell them a lot more about the planet than his little climb. But it wouldn't feel the same. If he was destined to spend his life here, he wanted to get to know the planet. And Jack always had preferred actually experiencing things rather than depending on some computer screen. "We can do that tomorrow," he said. "It'll probably be an easier way to find a homestead than hiking."

 

"Definitely," she agreed, finally looking out over the valley below them.

 

There was another mountain range a short distance away, taller than the one they were on, its top vegetation free and snow capped. The valley was comfortably full of trees and Jack knew that they'd not lack building material. He just hoped that Sam wanted a log cabin. Anything else was going to be a bit beyond his means and abilities.

 

Jack thought that he saw a lake off in the distance, which would be a good place to look for their homestead. Food, water and shelter were their first priorities. The gate ship could provide for a bit, it had a food replication device, but Jack knew that, eventually, it would run out of raw materials. Maybe he should ask Sam, see if she could figure out how it worked. The cabin would be a lot easier if he had nails.

 

"It's beautiful," she sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

 

"Yeah, it is," he said softly, staring at her. His hand dipped into his pants pocket and fingered the small item there. He almost felt like he was playing with a landmine, one that could go off at any moment, and ruin everything.

 

He was afraid, and that wasn't an emotion he was used to feeling. There was a lot riding on this, and it was nothing as simple as the fate of the world. If this went wrong, it could be so bad. It could haunt him for the rest of his life.

 

"I feel bad leaving Daniel and Teal'c behind," she said, glancing over at him.

 

"It was his idea," Jack said.

 

"I know but still." She shrugged. "I guess I never thought about how it all would end," she said. "I just assumed we'd go back to our time and it'd all be over."

 

"But if we did things right, our future no longer exists," he said, frowning.

 

"I know. I don't miss it as much as I thought I would," she confessed, turning to face him. "It's sorta fun to have an adventure. Scary too and kinda terrifying but still, it's so much more fun than checking facts for Doctor Hershfield. He kept stealing my ideas and I couldn't do anything about it."

 

"Sam, I wanted to ask you something," he said quickly, getting the words out before he could change his mind.

 

"What?"

 

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small item Daniel had pressed into his hand while Sam had said goodbye to Teal'c. He held it out to her, the sun glinting on the blue gemstone in the ring. "I know that there's no priest or anything and we can't make this official but I really don't think that matters," he rambled as her eyes grew wide, fixated on the ring. "Samantha Carter, will you marry me?"

 

She stared, her mouth moving silently for so long that Jack was afraid that he'd offended her. He knew he never should have said anything. They had such a wonderful relationship going on and he had just ruined it all. She'd hate him now. She'd be all uncomfortable and tense and af—

 

A weight slammed into his chest and Jack stumbled, falling backwards into the grass. Something wet and warm settled over his mouth and he wrapped his arms around her, deciding that he miraculously hadn't ticked her off.

 

Her hands grabbed his head and he rolled over, bracing his weight on his elbows as he broke the impromptu kiss. "So, that's a yes?" he asked, drinking in the sight of her slightly swollen lips and sparkling eyes.

 

She nodded. "Ya think?"

 

"Oh crap," Jack muttered, realizing that he'd lost the ring. He pushed off her and scrambled around in the grass, panicking slightly until he found it. He turned back to face her. She was sitting up, watching him intently. "Umm…" She held out her left hand, her fingers wiggling slightly. He slid the ring onto her third finger, relieved when it fit. It wasn't like he could take it back to the jeweler.

 

"Where did you get it?" she asked, drawing her hand to her face, moving it slightly to make the gemstone sparkle in the sun.

 

"His clothes weren't the only thing K'htep took from Ra," Jack said. "He wanted you to have it. He liked how the stone matched your eyes."

 

"I don't have one for you," she said, frowning a bit.

 

"I don't need a ring," he said, holding out his arms. She moved close and he hugged her, realizing that he'd told the truth. She was all he needed.

 

 

<><><><><> 

 

 

Garan watched the human ascend the steps to the Stargate, pausing to deliver a light spirited wave with his bouquet before he turned, walking through the shimmering surface. The  water vanished and she turned, seeing King Archon gather his wives, leading them back to the palace.

 

Garan was glad to see that he had remained and that he would still be their king. True, he was a bit of an odd man. His speech was different and sometimes difficult to understand. And he suffered from avarice upon occasion. However, in his heart, he was a good man.

 

And it was his heart that mattered.

 

Garan nodded to her companions and left them, returning to her small home. She did not live within the confines of the city, rather a small home outside. She preferred it that way. It was quiet and peaceful here, away from the noise and bustle of the other people.

 

It was also a tradition of her family, something that went back further than anyone remembered. Her father's father even claimed that her family had lived upon this land for generations.

 

Entering her home, she opened the shutters, letting the sunlight in. Her eyes settled upon a small box situated in the middle of her mantle and she crossed over to it, carefully taking it down and holding it in her hands.

 

She went back outside, seating herself upon the stoop. She opened the box, carefully rifling through the contents. It was said that this box contained the memories and treasures of her ancestors and was a honored heirloom, passed from daughter to daughter, or daughter to son, always in a direct line of descent.

 

Some of the items she recognized, locks of her mother's and her mother's mother's hair. Some of the times, she did not know the origin of, such as a small piece of glittery rock and a carved wooden animal, both items smooth with age and handling.

 

One of her ancestors had been an artist and there were a few fragile pieces of paper within the box, his renderings of himself and his family.

 

She had sought answers to her questions in this box, only to discover that it was destined to remain silent. However, she now wondered if the answers had been here all along and she had simply lacked the knowledge to understand it.

 

Carefully removing the last of the papers, she pulled out a small leather pouch, carefully returning the papers to the protection of the box. She opened the pouch, spilling its contents into the palm of her hand. Worn metal glinted dully in the sun. Its surface was pitted and pocked, silently testifying to years and years of wear. But in the center, undiminished by time, shone a sparkling blue stone.

 

Garan held it up, allowing it to capture the rays of the sun, in the very same manner as the Stargate had shimmered and sparkled. It was true. Had to be true.

 

It was said that her family was different. That they were not of this world but had been strangers here, many, many, many generations ago. It was said that they traveled here from afar, fleeing their world to create a new life.

 

It was also said that they had once mastered the magic of the ship in the forest. No one believed that claim because none in her family had managed to activate the ship for generations.

 

Yet, the off worlders had done it.

 

Finally, she knew her answer. She knew why she was different. Emboldened by her knowledge, she placed the ring upon her finger, aware that she would have to speak to Markab the jeweler, have him fix the stone in a better band, one that would withstand generations of wear. For her family had sequestered themselves for too long. It was time for her to claim her inheritance and time for her family to be thought of with pride instead of with fear and uncertainty.

 

She did not know what the future may hold, that was a gift beyond even the true gods, but she was now aware of the past, and that fact alone gave her strength.

 

It was said that, with the banishment of the evil ones, a new time of prosperity would grace her people. Marshaled in by the ghosts of the past, who would be the protectors of the future.

 

So shall it be.

 

~Fin~


End file.
